Pakistan's security forces have been waging a "secret war" in the Baluchistan region since the death of tribal leader Mir Balaach Marri in combat last month. Peter Tatchell writes in The Guardian [2], Dec. 21: "The often indiscriminate attacks on civilian settlements are taking place mostly in the Kahan and Dera Bugti regions, and involve the deployment of heavy artillery, fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships. Pakistan's attacks have reportedly, so far, resulted in deaths of at least 100 men, women and children. More than 200 houses and other buildings, including schools and clinics, have been bombed and burned to the ground. Many farm animals were also killed in the attacks, depriving already poor people of their livelihood."
Mir Balaach Marri, purported head of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), was killed on Afghanistan's territory Pakistani intelligence sources told the BBC. The second son of one of Balochistan's premier tribal chiefs, Sardar Khair Bux Marri, Mir Balach Marri resigned from the provincial parliament in 2003, demanding greater autonomy for Baluchistan. (BBC [3], Nov. 21)
On the Iranian side of the border, four militants are reported dead in a clash between security forces and the Jundallah Brigades in Sistan-Baluchistan province. In February, Iran hanged a member of the Jundallah Brigades, convicted of a bombing that same month that killed 11 members of the Revolutionary Guards in Zahedan, the provincial capital. Twelve people were reported killed in a shootout between militants and security forces earlier this month in Sistan-Baluchistan. (AP [4], Dec. 20)
See our last posts on Pakistan [5], Iran [6] and Baluchistan [7].
