Pakistan foils BLA terror attack on naval air station in Balochistan
Heavily-armed gunmen attempted to breach PNS Siddiq in Turbat district, but Pakistani security forces intervened, neutralising all attackers without any damage to sensitive equipment or casualties among troops, officials say.
![Balochistan Liberation Army, an outlawed terror group, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to local media. / Photo: AP Archive Balochistan Liberation Army, an outlawed terror group, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to local media. / Photo: AP Archive](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/17870279_0-0-3000-1689.jpeg)
Balochistan Liberation Army, an outlawed terror group, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to local media. / Photo: AP Archive
Pakistani security forces have thwarted a late-night attack on a naval air station in southwestern Balochistan, officials said.
Four to six heavily-armed gunmen tried to barge into PNS Siddiq in Turbat district at 10 pm local time, but security forces "neutralised all attackers," a senior military official told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
No loss to any "sensitive equipment or casualties of our own troops" has so far been reported, he said, adding a clearance operation will begin shortly.
There was no official statement from the military.
The Balochistan Liberation Army [or BLA], which is designated as a terrorist group by Pakistan, Britain, and the United States, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to local media.
The attack took place days after eight gunmen stormed a government complex in the strategic port city of Gwadar last week. All eight attackers and two army troops were killed in an hours-long gun battle.
The terror group has long been involved in attacks on security forces in Pakistan's mineral-rich Balochistan, the country's largest but poorest province.
Security forces have long been facing a low-intensity insurgency by Baloch terror and other militant groups.
The province is also a key route of the $64-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project which aims to connect China's strategically important northwestern region to Balochistan's Gwadar Port through a network of roads, railways and pipelines for cargo, oil an d gas transportation.