Deadly Suicide Bombing Targets Pakistan Coast Guards Check-Post
At least three security personnel were killed and 15 others wounded when a vehicle-borne suicide bomber struck a paramilitary Pakistan Coast Guards check-post in the southwestern Balochistan province, a police official confirmed on Saturday. The attack occurred on Friday night at the Panwan check-post, approximately 10 kilometers from Jiwani in Gwadar district.
The suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden truck into the post, which is part of the security infrastructure for the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility, stating that its Majeed Brigade unit had carried out the assault.
Casualties and Response
Atta-ur-Rehman Khan Tareen, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Gwadar, told Arab News that 18 soldiers from the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Coast Guards were deployed at the check-post at the time of the attack. “Two soldiers of Pakistan Army and one soldier of Pakistan Coast Guards were killed in the attack,” Tareen said. “Fifteen soldiers were injured. Among them, one is in critical condition and has been shifted to the hospital.”
Police and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) immediately reached the scene after the blast and secured the area. Tareen added that investigations are underway to trace the facilitators of the attack.
Rising Separatist Violence in Balochistan
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a long-running separatist insurgency that has intensified in recent years. The violence complicates Pakistan’s efforts to promote Gwadar port city and the mineral-rich province as key investment destinations.
Friday’s attack was the second suicide assault by the BLA in Balochistan in less than two months. In May, dozens of people, including security personnel, were killed in a similar vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack on a shuttle train in Quetta.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies these allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
