Pakistani security forces have arrested two key Pakistani Taliban commanders in the country’s volatile southwest.
QUETTA, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces have arrested two key Pakistani Taliban commanders in the country’s volatile southwest, officials said Wednesday.
Balochistan’s Interior Minister Ziaullah Rangau praised security forces for arresting the militants, whom he identified as Commanders Nasrullah and Idlesh, and “saving the country from a possible major attack.”
He said the arrests were part of a “sophisticated intelligence-based operation” in a major boost for Pakistan’s government, which announced this week the launch of a nationwide crackdown on insurgents.
The arrests come amid a surge in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of withdrawing from the country after two decades of war.
At a press conference in Quetta, Langau released a video statement from Nasrullah, in which he said he had been a member of the Pakistani Taliban for 16 years, including several years in Afghanistan to escape Pakistani military operations. He claimed the group and Baluch separatists received support from the Afghan Taliban government.
In March, five Chinese engineers were killed in a suicide bomb attack on their vehicle in northwestern Pakistan. Pakistan said the attack was planned in Afghanistan and was carried out by Afghanistan-affiliated forces, a claim denied by the Afghan government and Pakistani militants.
Baluch insurgents are also targeting Chinese in Balochistan, which has been the scene of a small nationalist insurgency for more than two decades. They initially sought a greater share of the province’s resources but now want independence. The Pakistani Taliban and other domestic militant groups are also active in the province.
