Pakistani authorities have put security forces across the country on high alert after terrorist attacks in the southwestern province of Balochistan. This was reported by The News International on Friday.
According to it, security forces and law enforcement agencies have been ordered to exercise maximum vigilance over possible new terrorist attacks.
Stores and educational institutions in Panjgur and Nushki districts of Balochistan, where militants attacked border police posts on February 3, are temporarily closed, mobile phone service has been suspended and military and police are patrolling the streets.
According to the interior ministry, seven servicemen and 14 militants were killed in the fighting with terrorists in the said areas. The Pakistani military claims to have intercepted radio communications between extremists and their handlers abroad, who supported the attacks.
In an interview with Geo TV, Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said the attacks were carried out by militants from the newly formed Balochistan Nationalist Army, which includes extremists from the Afghanistan-based radical Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the al-Qaeda (banned in Russia) terrorist network and nationalists from Balochistan.
Their recent incursions have further inflamed the situation in the province. The situation has been tense since late 2021 due to the rise of nationalist and separatist groups opposed to the Pakistani government's efforts to strengthen the centralization of the country. Extremist incursions have threatened the security of Balochistan's Gwadar seaport, which is considered a key site of China's global Belt and Road Initiative, as well as other economic facilities being built in Pakistan with PRC assistance.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS