Two soldiers were martyred and five terrorists were killed in a foiled attack on a security checkpost in Balochistan’s Qila Abdullah district, the military’s media affairs wing said on Tuesday.

A statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said terrorists attempted to attack a checkpost of the security forces in the district’s general area of Gulistan on the night between Monday and Tuesday.

“The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted by own troops,” the ISPR said, adding that this forced the terrorists to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the post’s boundary.

It added that five terrorists, including two suicide bombers, were “sent to hell” in the ensuing exchange of fire.

“However, during the intense fire exchange two brave sons of soil, Naik Tahir Khan, 39, and Lance Naik Tahir Iqbal, 26, having fought gallantly, paid the ultimate sacrifice and embraced martyrdom,” the statement added.

The ISPR said that a sanitisation operation was being conducted in the area and the perpetrators of the “heinous act” would be brought to justice.

“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave men further strengthen our resolve.” the statement concluded.

Last week, security forces neutralised six terrorists in Balochistan’s Zhob district while they were trying to infiltrate the province through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

After the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022, the country witnessed a sharp uptick in the number of attacks targeting security forces and other law enforcement agencies, particularly in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A security report, released earlier this month by the Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute for Peace Studies, showed that in 2024, the number of terror attacks reached levels comparable to the security situation in 2014 or earlier.

It said that while terrorists no longer controlled specific territories inside Pakistan as they did in 2014, the prevailing insecurity in parts of KP and Balochistan was “alarming”.

It said that over 95 per cent of terrorist attacks recorded in 2024 were concentrated in KP and Balochistan.

KP recorded the highest number of terrorist incidents in the country in 2024, with 295 attacks. Meanwhile, attacks by various outlawed Baloch insurgent groups, primarily the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front, saw a staggering 119pc increase, accounting for 171 incidents in Balochistan, it said.