A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security post on the N-25 highway in Mastung on Thursday, killing two civilians and wounding 13 more. Police say three attackers were killed and three Frontier Corps personnel were wounded. The banned Baloch Liberation Army says more than 18 soldiers were killed, a figure no one has independently verified. The two counts do not match, and the gap is the story.
The attack on Kandawa Post
The attack took place on Thursday, 12 November, at the Kandawa security post along the N-25 highway in Mastung district, Balochistan, police said. Militants rammed the explosives-laden vehicle into the post, then fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, security sources said. The vehicle detonated outside the post’s perimeter, and three attackers were then killed.
Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti and Interior Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove condemned the attack. Police blamed militants linked to Fitna al-Hindustan, the official term for Baloch separatist groups, which Islamabad accuses of Indian support, a charge Delhi rejects. The blast damaged nearby houses and a mosque.
The civilian ledger
The two civilians killed were named by police as Kaleemullah, son of Abdullah, and Bibi Laiba, daughter of Dil Murad. At least 13 civilians were injured. Police named the injured as 63-year-old Abdul Haq, 21-year-old Muhammad Ikram, 35-year-old Muhammad Ramzan and his three-year-old son Muhammad Sinan, 21-year-old Tania, 23-year-old Manza, 25-year-old Hasina, 45-year-old Zahida, 18-year-old Faiza Gul, 35-year-old Shaheena, 12-year-old Shahleeza, 22-year-old Meraj and 36-year-old Bibi Syeda.
The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals, and a child with a severe leg fracture was evacuated to Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Quetta, the Frontier Corps said. Three Frontier Corps personnel were also wounded. The blast struck homes beside the post, so the civilian toll came from where the bomb went off.
The claim of 18
The Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility and gave a very different account. Its statement named the alleged suicide bomber as Osama Shahwani, also known as Wadood, a Mastung resident who it said joined the group in 2022. The group said its Majeed Brigade suicide unit carried out the bombing, and its Fateh Squad then entered the compound. Its media channel released a two-minute, 32-second video of a vehicle approaching the compound before the explosion.
The group claimed the camp and its guard posts were completely demolished and alleged that more than 18 Pakistani personnel were killed, with several others wounded. Indian media reported a further claim that senior officers, including colonels, were meeting at the time. The link between that claimed Kanak camp attack and the police-confirmed Kandawa assault has not been independently established, and the military issued no separate confirmation. On the police account, no security personnel were killed at all: three were wounded.
The February precedent
The two sides have published irreconcilable counts before. In February 2026, the group claimed responsibility for a coordinated wave of attacks across several districts. Reuters reported that the subsequent 40-hour security operation left 17 law enforcement personnel and 31 civilians dead, while Pakistani authorities said 145 militants were killed. The group made substantially different claims about the number of security personnel killed, which Reuters said it could not independently verify.
The pattern matters because neither count can be checked on the ground. The police count is backed by named victims and a published injured list. The group’s count rests on its own statement and video, which show an explosion but not a casualty list. The verified toll stands at two civilians dead, 13 injured and three FC personnel wounded.
The same-week backdrop
The attack came on the same day the military announced that security forces killed 74 militants in operations across Balochistan and KP this week, 31 in a ten-day operation in Quetta district’s Kurram area and 43 in 48 hours in Mir Ali and Orakzai. In the same sweep, two mosques were cleared in Mir Ali, with no one arrested. Elsewhere this week, ten police officers died raiding illegal gold mines in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Balochistan recorded 829 violence-linked deaths in the third quarter of 2026, up 213 per cent from 265 in the second quarter, according to the Centre for Research and Security Studies, overtaking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the worst-hit province. Mastung sits beside Quetta on the N-25 highway, which connects the provincial capital with Karachi, a route carrying civilian traffic, trade and security convoys.
What happens next
Three things will show what the attack really cost: whether the military confirms or disputes the claim of 18 killed; whether the sanitisation operation finds more attackers; and whether the next quarterly figures show Balochistan’s toll still rising. PakMirror will track the investigation and the official toll in our more national news from Pakistan.
