Islamabad, 22 December (H.S.): Fierce clashes erupted in Pakistan's most volatile regions of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claiming the lives of nine soldiers and nine insurgents over the weekend, as separatist groups and the military traded starkly divergent accounts of the ambushes.

The Balochistan Post reported that the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for three distinct attacks in Balochistan's Quetta, Kacchi, and Kech districts on Saturday, asserting that its fighters killed six Pakistani soldiers.

BLA spokesperson Jiyand Baloch stated in a media release that militants targeted army personnel with a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) in the Dagari area on the outskirts of Quetta on Friday, resulting in four soldiers killed on the spot and two others wounded.

A second assault occurred that same evening in the Kalamuddin area of Kacchi district's Dhadar, while the third strike late Friday night hit a Pakistan Army post in Sami, located in Kech district's Kulag area, where two additional soldiers perished, according to the group.

Concurrently, the Balochistan Liberation Front announced it conducted four attacks between December 18 and 20 in Nushki, Tump, and Dasht, killing three soldiers. Front spokesperson Major Gwahram Baloch detailed that on December 18, fighters detonated explosives on an army vehicle in Nushki's Zarrin Jungle area, slaying three troops and injuring two more.

The Express Tribune cited a statement from the military's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which countered that security forces eliminated nine Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in two separate encounters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The first firefight unfolded on December 19 in Dera Ismail Khan district, neutralizing four rebels, followed by another in Bannu district that dispatched five more.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar