Officer among 6 soldiers gunned down in Pakistan

Islamabad, July 3 (EFE).- Two militant attacks in Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province have left a senior army commander and five soldiers dead, said officials on Monday.

A Pakistan army statement said a group of militants opened fire on a security patrol in the Balor region of the province on Sunday evening.

Two soldiers, Major Saqib Hussain, and Naik Baqir Ali, were killed, and another was injured, according to the statement.

In the second attack, in the Dana Sar area of the Sherani district, four security personnel and a suspected militant were killed.

Additionally, one soldier and two militants were wounded when the militants attacked a checkpoint, a police officer told EFE.

The officer said the exchange of fire between the security forces and the militants continued for almost two hours, during which the militants took away their two injured accomplices.

In a separate incident, three militants were killed during a security operation in Kulachi, Dera Ismail Khan District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Sunday.

According to the military, the slain militants were involved in various violent activities against security forces, police, and civilians.

The latest attacks come as the country sees an uptick in militancy-related incidents, sparking an alarming rise in violence this year.

According to a report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, militancy-related incidents rose by 79 percent during the first half of the year compared to the corresponding period of 2022.

The report stated that 271 militant attacks occurred from January to June, claiming 389 lives.

In the first six months of 2022, 150 attacks killed 293 people.

The second half of 2022 recorded 228 attacks, resulting in 246 fatalities. EFE

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