BLF Claims Attack on Compound Linked to Saindak and Reko Diq Projects in Naukundi
SHAAL, BALOCHISTAN: The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) has claimed responsibility for an attack on a compound housing foreign engineers and staff working on the Saindak and Reko Diq projects in Naukundi area of district Chaghai.
According to a statement attributed to BLF spokesperson Major Gahram Baloch, fighters from the group’s newly launched “Saddo Operational Battalion” (SOB) carried out the assault on 30 November at 8:19 p.m. The group claims its fighters entered the compound, took control of parts of it, and continued to engage in fighting.
The spokesperson said that Pakistan’s security forces deployed special units and helicopters in an attempt to regain control of the area but the BLF fighters, who held their ground for 24 hours, repelled them.
The statement further highlighted that Pakistani authorities suspended internet service in the area to conceal losses, an allegation Pakistani officials have not publicly addressed.
The BLF described the attack as a message to Pakistan, its foreign partners, and companies involved in major mining projects. The group reiterated its long-held position that Balochistan’s natural resources belong to the Baloch people and warned that it opposes international collaboration with the Pakistani state in resource extraction.
Pakistani authorities have not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident. However, some BBC Urdu and some media outlets reported that Pakistani forces claimed to have killed all the attackers.
Earlier on November 30 the BLF released the picture of its first self-sacrifice (Jind Nadri) Zarina Rafique aka Thranag Maho a female member of the SOB unit of the group.
Nokkundi is located approximately 500 kilometers west of Quetta, the capital of Pakistan-Occupied Balochistan and about 150 kilometers from Dalbandin, the headquarters of Chagai district.
Chagai contains a wide range of mineral resources and hosts two major copper-and-gold mining projects, the Reko Diq Project and the Saindak Project. The Reko Diq site lies about 110 kilometers north of Nokkundi, near the Afghanistan border.
The district also served as the site of Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests. Since those nuclear tests, local residents say they have continued to suffer from their long-term effects, claiming that the area has experienced a rise in mysterious illnesses and environmental changes.
The Baloch have since been regularly protesting against Pakistan’s nuclear tests in the region and call for the removal of all nuclear-related activities from the Baloch land.
