Pakistan: One killed, 16 injured in Balochistan attack

Quetta, Jan 5 One person was killed and 16 others injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack in Panjgur district of Pakistan's Balochistan on Monday, local media reported.

Panjgur Assistant Commissioner Amir Jan stated that the IED was planted in a motor cycle and three of the injured are in serious condition, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported. A Frontier Corps vehicle, which was the probably the target, escaped the attack and all personnel are safe, according to local police officials.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior official of the local administration said that the motorcycle, where IED was planted, was parked near a pushcart in the main bazaar, Dawn reported. Another police official stated that the blast seemed to have conducted through a remote control.

The blast occurred amid a rise in attacks targeting law enforcement personnel in Pakistan, especially in the border provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Earlier in the day, at least one person was killed, and nine others were injured in an IED blast targetting a cement factory vehicle in the Lakki Marwat district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local media reported, citing police.

Police stated that the explosion took place on Begukhel Road near the Nawarkhel Mor. The police said that the deceased was identified as Fareedullah, while the injured included Mir Ahmad, Abdul Malik, Umar Khan, Masal Khan and Syed Jan, Pakistan-based Geo News reported. Following the explosion, Rescue 1122 teams reached the site of the incident and took the injured to City Hospital in Lakki.

On Sunday, three police personnel were killed after unidentified assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire on traffic police personnel in Lakki Marwat's Sarai Naurang city, according to a police spokesperson, Geo News reported. Following the incident, the attackers fled from the spot.

The deceased were identified as Traffic Police In-charge Naurang Jalal Khan, Constable Azizullah, and Constable Abdullah. The police have initiated a search operation in the area and have started a probe.

In a separate incident, a police personnel was killed after unidentified gunmen opened fire in the Mandan area of Bannu. The police said Constable Rashid Khan was targeted while he was heading to Mandan Police Station for duty from his home.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed its deep concerns over the security and law and order situation in the country’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province throughout 2025. The region remains alarmingly unstable, witnessing frequent militant attacks.

Citing Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, the HRCP in its latest report titled 'Caught in the Crossfire: Civilians, Security and the Crisis of Justice in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Merged Districts' stated that at least 82 militant attacks had occurred nationwide in July 2025 alone, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including its former tribal districts, accounting for nearly two thirds of this number. Additionally, 45 militant attacks were recorded in the province in September 2025, killing 54 people and injuring 49.

Of these cumulative figures in September, the province's merged districts "accounted for 20 militant attacks claiming 21 lives" including six Pakistani security personnel, three militants and 12 civilians and injuring seven.

According to the HRCP, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the President of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, described the security situation as significantly more precarious than generally perceived. He stated that a range of militant organisations were operating not only in the merged districts but also in settled areas of the province, adding that the terrorist outfit Daesh was reportedly active in the region.

Similarly, the rights body said, the provincial president of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), Sikandar Sherpao, claimed that “approximately 550 incidents of violence had occurred since January 2025, predominantly in the merged districts”. Citing Sherpao, the rights body stated that while "actual militant actors" were operating in the region, they were now accompanied by "copycat groups and hardened criminal networks, compounding the law-and-order challenges".

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