BLA claims complete control of Surab City, targets state installations in armed operation

Surab [Pakistan], June 1 (ANI): In a significant escalation of the ongoing Baloch insurgency, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for a large-scale armed operation in Surab city, asserting complete control over the area and targeting key state installations.

According to a statement released by BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch, freedom fighters launched a coordinated operation on the evening of May 31, taking over major military, administrative, and financial facilities of the Pakistani state in Surab. The operation lasted for more than three hours.

BLA fighters reportedly took positions across the city, seizing control of the Levies and police stations, the Deputy Commissioner's office, a government guest house, and local bank branches. The group claims it paralysed the state's infrastructure, damaged facilities, and set fire to three vehicles of security forces, several banks, warehouses, and a guest house.

In addition, BLA fighters arrested several Levies and police personnel and confiscated 30 Kalashnikov rifles along with other weapons and military equipment from state facilities. The detained personnel were later released on what the BLA described as "conditional concessions" based on their Baloch identity.

The statement added that during the seizure of the DC office, Assistant Deputy Commissioner Hidayatullah Buledi attempted to confront the fighters and was detained. He was reportedly locked in a room where he later died due to suffocation, a death the BLA described as accidental.

Following the operation, the BLA established checkpoints on the Quetta-Karachi and Surab-Gidar highways, further restricting state movement in the region.

The BLA reiterated that this operation is part of its broader struggle for Baloch national liberation, vowing to continue targeting all symbols and institutions of the Pakistani state. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)