9 Pakistan Soldiers Killed as Balochistan Rebels’ First All-Woman Unit Claims Convoy Attack

    Attack marks the female unit's first-ever armed operation, with BLF's Qurban unit providing support

    Balochistan's insurgency sees a new front as the Karima Armed Assault Division claims its first armed attack
    Balochistan's insurgency sees a new front as the Karima Armed Assault Division claims its first armed attack

    Meet KAAD: the new female combat unit shaking up Balochistan’s insurgency

    The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) has claimed that nine Pakistani military personnel were killed in a series of attacks carried out by the group’s newly formed all-woman combat unit, the Karima Armed Assault Division (KAAD), marking a notable tactical shift in the decades-long Baloch separatist insurgency.

    According to a statement from BLF spokesperson Major Gwahram Baloch, six personnel were killed and several others injured when KAAD fighters ambushed a three-vehicle Pakistan Army Quick Response Force convoy on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) highway at Jusak, near Turbat, on September 22. The BLF said its Qurban unit supported the operation and that both units repelled an attempt by Pakistani forces to encircle them, covering each other’s withdrawal. The group said three of its own fighters were killed in the attack.

    A first for KAAD

    This was reportedly the first-ever armed operation carried out by KAAD, which the BLF has described as its newly formed female combat unit. In a separate incident days earlier, on September 20, BLF fighters attacked a military convoy in the Pullabad area of Tump in Kech district using heavy and automatic weapons, leaving four personnel seriously injured, according to the group. A sniper attack on a military checkpoint in Mashkay district’s Suneri area on September 15 was also claimed by the BLF, killing one Frontier Corps soldier.

    A separate attack on an energy site

    In a related development, the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) separately claimed responsibility for a rocket and heavy-weapons attack on a Mari Energies Limited site in Dera Bugti’s Beh Loti area, killing three company employees and injuring several others, according to BRA spokesperson Sarbaz Baloch.

    Women take on a frontline role

    The emergence of armed female units marks a shift in the Baloch insurgency’s operational structure. Officials tracking the movement say women in Balochistan are increasingly seen as active combatants rather than passive supporters of the separatist cause, aligning themselves directly with groups like the BLA and BLF. The trend has drawn attention against the backdrop of long-standing complaints from Baloch residents over alleged enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings by Pakistani security forces, and over the region’s persistent underdevelopment despite its natural resource wealth.

    Part of a long-running insurgency

    Balochistan has for years seen a guerrilla campaign waged by armed separatist groups targeting Pakistani security forces, government installations, and CPEC-linked infrastructure. The province, Pakistan’s largest by area but among its least developed, has repeatedly seen convoy ambushes and checkpoint attacks; Pakistani authorities have not issued an official response to the BLF’s latest claims, and the reported casualty figures rest on the group’s own statement rather than independent confirmation.

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