Pakistan’s security forces killed 41 militants in two separate intelligence-based operations in Balochistan on Thursday, the military’s media wing said.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, the first operation was carried out on the outskirts of Harnai district and targeted a hideout of militants belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which the military identifies as Fitna al Khwarij.
ISPR described the group as Indian-sponsored and said troops engaged the militants during an intense exchange of fire, killing 30 of them.
A large cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives was recovered from the site and destroyed on the spot, ISPR said.
In a second intelligence-based operation in Panjgur district, security forces targeted another militant hideout and killed 11 militants affiliated with Fitna al Hindustan, a term the military uses for the Balochistan Liberation Army or the Balochistan Liberation Front.
ISPR said weapons, ammunition and looted money from a bank robbery in Panjgur on Dec. 15, 2025, were recovered from the militants.
The military said the militants were involved in multiple terrorist activities in the past.
ISPR said sanitization operations were ongoing in the affected areas to eliminate any remaining militants.
It added that security forces and law enforcement agencies remain committed to continuing counterterrorism operations under the vision of “Azm-e-Istehkam,” approved by the Federal Apex Committee under the National Action Plan, to eradicate foreign-sponsored terrorism from the country.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area and bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency involving Baloch separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front.
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