After two days of violence in the Balochistan port city of Gwadar, the banned Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) announced on Friday that it had concluded the attack it launched on October 22, which it calls "Operation Almas".
According to sources, BLF spokesperson Major Gwahram Baloch claimed the operation targeted the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) compound and intelligence facilities, and that the group's fighters held their positions for around 20 hours. The group claimed dozens of military and intelligence personnel were killed. It acknowledged the deaths of seven of its own members, including a woman it identified as Bilqees Didag, alias Almas.
Those claims sharply contradict the military's account. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Friday that clearance operations after attacks near Gwadar city and the Gabd border crossing killed 10 militants, including a woman, while one civilian died and several vehicles were damaged. ISPR said the operations ended without any casualties among security forces, and alleged that militants had coerced a Baloch woman into taking part in the attack.
Neither side's casualty figures, nor the claimed duration of the fighting, could be independently verified. Margalla News' earlier report on the military's statement is available here.
For Gwadar's residents, already strained by the closure of the Pakistan-Iran border crossings and the recent attacks, the question now is how quickly normal life returns after the announced end of the fighting.