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Attack on Pakistan naval base results in six killed

 
  The funeral of Lieutenant Colonel Syed Kashif Ali, 39 and Captain Muhammad Ahmed Badar, 23, after according to military, gunmen attacked a military post in Mir Ali, North Waziristan district in Pakistan near Afghanistan, March 17, 2024. (photo credit: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)/Handout via REUTERS)
The funeral of Lieutenant Colonel Syed Kashif Ali, 39 and Captain Muhammad Ahmed Badar, 23, after according to military, gunmen attacked a military post in Mir Ali, North Waziristan district in Pakistan near Afghanistan, March 17, 2024.
(photo credit: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)/Handout via REUTERS)

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement.

Gunmen attacked a Pakistan naval airbase, killing at least one paramilitary soldier, while security forces killed all five of the assailants in retaliatory fire, officials said on Tuesday.

Monday's attack on the Turbat base in southwestern Pakistan was the second assault by ethnic Baloch people on a military facility in the past week.

"We escaped a huge loss," said a statement from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's office.

A Pakistan Navy spokesman said all five attackers were killed after they tried to break into the base.

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One paramilitary soldier was also killed, according to a military statement.

 President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari,  attend the funeral of Lieutenant Colonel Syed Kashif Ali, 39 and Captain Muhammad Ahmed Badar, 23, after an attack on a military post, March 17, 2024 (credit: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)/Handout via REUTERS)
President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, attend the funeral of Lieutenant Colonel Syed Kashif Ali, 39 and Captain Muhammad Ahmed Badar, 23, after an attack on a military post, March 17, 2024 (credit: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)/Handout via REUTERS)

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement.

Previous attacks done by the BLA

The BLA has previously been involved in attacks on Pakistani and Chinese interests in the region and elsewhere.

China has invested heavily in the mineral-rich southwestern province of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, including developing the port of Gwadar, despite a decades-long separatist insurgency.


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The naval base is significant to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which also encompasses roads and energy projects and is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative.

Pakistani security forces said last week they repulsed a gun and bomb attack by the BLA on a complex outside Gwadar, in which two soldiers and all eight gunmen were killed.

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