Balochistan: Stall selling Pakistani flags targeted, gas pipeline blown up

QUETTA: At least one person died and many others have been wounded in a hand grenade attack on a stall set up to sell Pakistani flags in Balochistan’s capital city Quetta on Thursday.

 Earlier on August 3, 2022, a gas pipeline was blown up in the Mach area of Balochistan.

The spokesperson of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has accepted the responsibility for both attacks through different statements to the media.

He said, “Our Sarmachars hurled a grenade on a stall selling Pakistani flags for the so-called Independence Day of Pakistan, on Raisani Road in Quetta.” As a result, one person died and many were injured.

Spokesman Azad Baloch said that the BLA always refrains from attacking public places, which is why the nature of the said attack was kept low.

 He said, “Balochistan where every other house in Balochistan is mourning due to the Pakistani state atrocities and atrocities of Pakistan. Hence, We cannot allow anyone to promote the baseless culture of the so-called Pakistani independence celebrations.”

BLA spokesperson Azad Baloch further said that this attack was a warning to the people of all areas of Balochistan, especially Quetta, to stay away from all kinds of programs, events or gatherings organized on the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day, such events will be targeted.

It is pertinent to mention that every year the Baloch nation de-celebrates Pakistan’s Independence Day as a day of mourning because they believe that the creation of Pakistan later become the cause of Balochistan’s occupation.

The Baloch armed resistance organisations in August target Pakistani forces, government installations and celebratory events on the 14th of August.

Earlier, the BLA spokesperson in a separate statement accepted responsibility for blowing up a gas pipeline in the Mach area of Balochistan. 

Azad Baloch said that fighters of BLA blew up 18 inches in diameter of a gas pipeline with explosives in Chashma Aab in the Mach area.

Azad Baloch said that as a result of the attack, a large part of the pipeline was destroyed due to which gas supply was immediately suspended in Quetta and adjoining areas.