The Insurgency in Balochistan is an insurgency or revolt by Baloch separatist insurgents and various Islamist militant groups against the governments of Pakistan and Iran in the Balochistan region, which covers the Pakistani province of Balochistan, Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and Balochistan of southern Afghanistan. Rich in natural resources, this is the largest, least populated and least developed province in Pakistan and Iran, and armed groups demand greater control of the province's natural resources and political autonomy. Baloch separatists have attacked civilians from other ethnicities throughout the province. In the 2010s, attacks against the Shia community by sectarian groups—though not always directly related to the political struggle—have risen, contributing to tensions in Balochistan. In Pakistan, the ethnic separatist insurgency is low-scale but ongoing mainly in southern Balochistan, as well as sectarian and religiously motivated militancy concentrated mainly in northern and central Balochistan.
The Balochistan Liberation Army is a Baloch ethnonationalist militant organization based in the Baluchistan region of Afghanistan. Operating primarily from safe havens scattered across southern Afghanistan, BLA perpetrates attacks in neighboring Pakistan's Balochistan province, which it seeks to remove from Pakistani sovereignty. It frequently targets Pakistan Armed Forces, civilians and foreign nationals.
The Frontier Corps are a group of four paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's borders with Afghanistan and Iran. There are four Frontier Corps: FC KPK (North) and FC KPK (South) stationed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and FC Balochistan (North) and FC Balochistan (South) stationed in Balochistan province.
A series of occasional armed skirmishes and firefights have occurred along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border between the Afghan Armed Forces and the Pakistan Armed Forces since 1949. The latest round of hostilities between the two countries began in April 2007. Militants belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar also use Afghanistan's territory to target Pakistani security personnel deployed along the border. The Diplomat says that the presence of terrorists belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan on Afghan soil is the reason for sporadic shelling of Afghanistan's territory by Pakistani security forces.
The Pakistani Taliban, formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current leader is Noor Wali Mehsud, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban share a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban and have assisted them in the 2001–2021 war, but the two groups have separate operation and command structures.
This is a list of terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the calendar year 2011.
Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad was a combined military operation by the Pakistani military in support of local law enforcement agencies to disarm and eliminate the terrorist sleeper cells across all states of Pakistan, started on 22 February 2017. The operation aimed to eliminate the threat of terrorism, and consolidating the gains of Operation Zarb-e-Azb which was launched in 2014 as a joint military offensive. It was further aimed at ensuring the security of Pakistan's borders. The operation underwent active participation from the Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Police and other Warfare and Civil Armed Forces managed under the Government of Pakistan. More than 375,000 intelligence-based operations had been carried out as of 2021. This operation has been mostly acknowledged after Operation Zarb e Azb.
On 14 August 2017, an improvised explosive device targeted a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle in Harnai district of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. The attack left 8 FC troops dead. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
On 1 December 2017, 3–4 gunmen arrived at the hostel of Agricultural Training Institute at Agricultural University Peshawar and started firing as a result of which at least 13 people were killed and 35+ were injured. Tehreek-e-Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2018 include:
Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2019 include:
This article is an incomplete outline of terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2021 in chronological order.
On 25 January 2022, militants stormed an army security post in a remote area of Dasht, Kech District, Balochistan, Pakistan, killing at least ten security personnel and injuring three others. The clash lasted for a few hours in which militants also suffered several casualties. Additionally, the militants also seized weapons that were present in the security post. Locals in the area also confirmed that an attack on the security post took place and that the militants suffered heavy casualties in the attack.
The 2022 Panjgur and Naushki raids were a series of attacks on the Pakistani Frontier Corps in Balochistan claimed by the Balochistan Nationalist Army (BNA), a newly formed Balochi separatist group with ties to the Balochistan Liberation Army. On 2 February, the militants attacked both the Frontier Corps base in Nushki and an outpost in Panjgur District, as part of the insurgency in Balochistan.
This article is an incomplete outline of terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2023 in chronological order.
The Mianwali air base attack occurred on November 4th, 2023, Pakistan Air Force's PAF Base M.M. Alam, in Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan, which was the target of an attack by the jihadist group Tehreek-e-Jihad. The Pakistani Armed Forces repelled the attack, killing all nine attackers during the security operation. However the attack did cause damage to 3 grounded aircraft, but the rest of the aircraft were unharmed. This event heightened national security concerns, as it targeted a critical military installation.
Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan is an insurgent Deobandi jihadist group in Pakistan that has gained notoriety for its involvement in attacks on Pakistani military and police targets. The group is believed to have been founded in February 2023 and has claimed violent attacks against Pakistani police, security, and military installations in various provinces of Pakistan.
On 12 December 2023, the Deobandi jihadist insurgent group Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan attacked a police station in Daraban, Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, killing at least 23 people.
The Attack on PNS Siddique was a terrorist attack that occurred on March 26, 2024, at the PNS Siddique Naval Air Base in Turbat, Pakistan. The attack was carried out by the Majeed Brigade of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). The BLA claimed responsibility for the assault, citing opposition to Chinese investments in the Balochistan.
Operation Azm-e-Istehkam is a counter-insurgency operation launched by the government of Pakistan in June 2024. The operation was approved by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif. The operation will include not only military action, but also socio-economic uplift to deter extremism.
