• Curfew imposed in Khud Kocha; bridge blast cuts Quetta-Karachi highway
• ISPR says 10 terrorists eliminated in separate Balochistan operations; two female ‘suicide bombers, facilitator’ arrested
QUETTA: Three people were killed and five others injured in a gun attack on a Karachi-bound passenger bus and a bridge on the National Highway was blown up in the Khud Kocha area of Mastung district on Wednesday, suspending traffic between Quetta and Karachi for hours.
The gun and bomb attacks were carried out at a time when the security forces killed 10 terrorists and arrested two ‘female suicide bombers’ along with their facilitator during intelligence-based operations in Mastung and Surab districts over the past 48 hours, according to the military’s media wing.
Police said the passenger coach of a private transport company was travelling from Quetta to Karachi when it came under indiscriminate firing in the Garo area of Khud Kocha tehsil. Armed men positioned on nearby mountains opened fire on the bus, killing three passengers and injuring five others.
Security forces and rescue personnel rushed to the scene and shifted the bodies and injured to Mastung DHQ hospital where the deceased were identified as Inamul Haq, a resident of Qila Abdullah; Syed Tariq Niaz Rizvi, a resident of Karachi; and Liaqat Khan, a resident of Gulistan.
Abdul Wali, a resident of Pishin, and Najam and Abdul Hanan, both residents of Quetta, sustained injuries. They are receiving medical treatment at the hospital.
The bodies were handed over to the families after completion of legal formalities, while authorities launched an investigation into the attack and began searching for those responsible.
Bridge blast
Earlier, traffic between Quetta and Karachi remained suspended for several hours after a bridge on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway in the Khud Kocha area of the Mastung district.
A police official confirmed that miscreants planted explosives under the bridge in the Anjari area of Khud Kocha and detonated them in the early hours of Wednesday.
“The bridge was badly damaged in the explosion, suspending all kinds of traffic on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway. However, no casualty was reported in the blast,” the police official said.
Long queues of buses, goods trucks and other vehicles were witnessed on both sides of the highway following the blast.
Citing the deteriorating security situation, the Balochistan Home Department imposed an indefinite curfew in the Khud Kocha sub-tehsil of Mastung district starting at 9pm on Wednesday.
Babar Yousafzai, spokesperson for the Home Department, said the curfew will remain in force until further orders to maintain peace and public safety. Residents are not allowed to leave their homes, and all unnecessary movement is prohibited.
“Strict legal action will be taken against anyone found violating the curfew orders,” Yousafzai said, urging citizens to avoid unnecessary travel and cooperate with authorities until normal conditions are restored.
Later in the evening, authorities allowed small vehicles to travel by making alternate arrangements. Security forces reached the area soon after the explosion and launched a search operation to trace those involved in the attack.
Operation continues
Separately, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said security forces killed 10 terrorists during intelligence-based operations in Mastung and Surab districts over the last 48 hours.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ISPR said that security forces were conducting comprehensive joint operations in different parts of Balochistan against the terrorist networks of Indian-sponsored Fitna al Hindustan and Fitna al Khwarij to eliminate remnants of terrorists and their facilitators.
The statement said security forces conducted multiple intelligence-based area sanitisation and targeted operations in Surab and Mastung districts, during which 10 terrorists were killed.
“During the conduct of these operations, security forces effectively engaged the terrorist locations, killing seven terrorists in district Surab,” the ISPR said.
Whereas three terrorists were killed and two female suicide bombers along with their facilitator were apprehended in district Mastung belonging to Indian-sponsored Fitna al Hindustan.”
Fitna al Hindustan is a term used by the state for terrorist organisations in Balochistan.
Weapons, ammunition and improvised explosive devices used by the terrorists were also recovered, according to the ISPR statement.
It added that sanitation operations were continuing to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored terrorists found in the area. The security forces’ and law enforcement agencies’ counterterrorism campaign under the vision of Azm-i-Istehkam, approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, would continue at full pace to eliminate foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country, it declared.
Later, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti praised the successful intelligence-based operations by security forces in Surab and Mastung, highlighting their role in combating terrorism.
On social media platform X, the CM remarked that recent actions, including the elimination of terrorists and the arrest of suspects for planning suicide attacks, demonstrate the security forces’ professionalism and resolve.
CM Bugti vowed to foil conspiracies against Balochistan’s peace, targeting terrorist groups and their supporters, particularly those linked to India.
Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2026
