Quetta: The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for killing 13 Pakistani personnel in an attack on two Pakistan Coast Guard boats in Jiwani, a coastal area of Balochistan’s Gwadar district, local media reported.
In a statement, BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said that the group’s maritime wing, the Hammal Maritime Defence Force (HMDF), launched a coordinated attack on two large Coast Guard boats simultaneously, killing 13 personnel on the spot.
In a two-minute video released on the group’s official media channel, armed men can be seen aboard a boat. The BLA identified them as members of its maritime unit, the HMDF, and claimed they used a boat fitted with modern weapons to attack two Pakistani Coast Guard vessels patrolling waters off Jiwani, The Balochistan Post reported.
According to the statement, the HMDF seeks to defend what the BLA described as occupied coastlines, while impeding the maritime movements of Pakistani forces.
Describing the HMDF’s formation as part of the BLA’s broader strategy, Jeeyand Baloch said the group had formally announced the unit April 13, 2026, to expand the Baloch independence movement and protect Balochistan’s maritime territory, coastline and resources.
The BLA said the Jiwani operation was the HMDF’s second mission against the Pakistani coast guard.
Earlier in April, the group claimed that three Pakistani naval personnel were killed in what it described as its first maritime operation in the Jiwani area of Gwadar, as it announced the formation of a naval wing.
Video footage released by BLA’s media wing, Hakkal, circulated on social media and showed four masked fighters moving toward the sea before boarding a speedboat.
The video showed the fighters at sea moving towards a vessel identified as a Pakistan Coast Guard boat and opening indiscriminate gunfire.
“As long as even one son of the Baloch remains on this land, we will not allow you to remain on this sea or this land. We are ready today, we were ready yesterday, and we will remain ready in the future… You will be struck everywhere,” said the fighters before the attack.
Warning the Pakistani forces that its military scope is no longer limited only to the mountains and cities, the BLA said, “We have now achieved the full capability to target the enemy in the deep seas, including its naval installations and assets. Our war will continue with full intensity until the complete withdrawal of the enemy and the restoration of a free and sovereign Baloch state.”
