Pakistan, battling militancy surge, says 206 ‘terrorists’ killed in 7,984 operations between Jan-Oct

Pakistan Army soldiers stand guard in Islamabad on October 6, 2024. (AFP/File)

• Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan provinces have been racked by militant attacks in recent months
• Pakistan government recently approved “comprehensive operation” against separatist militant groups operating in Balochistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior ministry announced on Tuesday over 200 militants had been killed in nearly 8,000 intelligence-based operations between January and October this year, as the South Asian nation battles a militancy surge. 
Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces have both been racked by militant attacks in recent months. The assaults in KP, Islamabad says, are mostly carried out by Afghan nationals and their facilitators, or by Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups who cross over into Pakistan using safe haven in Afghanistan. The Taliban government in Kabul denies the charges, saying Pakistan’s security challenges are a domestic issue.
The remote Balochistan region has also seen an increase in strikes by separatist ethnic militants this year. The province is home to key Chinese Belt and Road projects.
“206 terrorists were killed in 7984 intelligence-based operations till October this year,” the interior ministry said in a readout of a meeting chaired by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. 
Commenting on the rise in militancy in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Naqvi said the professional capabilities of the provincial counterterrorism departments as well as police and paramilitary Frontier Constabulary would be enhanced. 
“Everyone has to work together to improve the law-and-order situation,” Naqvi was quoted as saying. “Along with increasing capacity, the police of all provinces should be equipped with modern technology … needs of law enforcement agencies must be fulfilled on a priority basis.”
Last month, the Pakistan government said it had approved a “comprehensive military operation” against separatist militant groups operating in Balochistan. The government did not provide any details of the military operation such as when it would be launched and in which parts of the province and which security agencies would participate.
Pakistan’s military already has a huge presence in the rugged region bordering Afghanistan and Iran, where insurgent groups have been fighting for a separate homeland for decades to win a larger share of benefits from the resource-rich province.
The military has long run intelligence-based operations against the insurgent groups, the most prominent being the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which escalated attacks in recent months on the military and nationals from longtime ally China. 
The region is home to Gwadar Port, built by China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative to expand China’s global reach.
In addition to the recent attacks, the BLA claimed a suicide bombing last month outside the international airport in the southern port city of Karachi that killed two Chinese engineers.
The military has also carried out dozens of armed operations in KP since 2007 when the indigenous Taliban movement, the TTP, was formed.