QUETTA/PESHAWAR: Pakistan suffered the loss of 21 individuals, predominantly military personnel, following three separate militant assaults on police and security forces conveys in the western provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on Friday, as confirmed by senior government functionaries and official statements.
The country has experienced an uptick in militant attacks since the year’s beginning, with a concentration of these violent incidents occurring in the two provinces along the Afghan border.
Despite the conclusion of nearly two decades of conflict following the withdrawal of international forces in August 2021, Afghanistan remains mired in crisis.
Pakistani officials have repeatedly asserted that the militants targeting their country operate from the neighboring state, urging the Taliban government in Kabul to prevent their territory from being used as a staging ground for such attacks.
“On 3 November 2023, 2 vehicles of security forces moving from Pasni to Ormara in [Balochistan’s] Gwadar District, were ambushed by the terrorists,” the army’s media wing, ISPR, said in a statement. “14 x soldiers embraced shahadat [martyrdom] in the unfortunate incident.”
Balochistan, where Pakistan and China are jointly undertaking infrastructure development and regional connectivity projects, has long been a battleground for a low-level insurgency.
Baloch nationalists argue they are fighting against the unfair extraction of the province’s resources by the federal government, an accusation Islamabad denies.
Baloch separatist groups have also expressed opposition to Pakistan’s decision to build a strategic port in Gwadar, where the recent attack took place, to gain economic advantage in the region and tap Central Asian markets.
Speaking to Arab News, the deputy commissioner of Gwadar, Major (r) Aurangzaib Badini, said the attack took place at 3pm near Pasni.
He informed the convoy was “ambushed by terrorists with an IED [improvised explosive device] blast and gunfire attacks.”
Pakistan’s caretaker interior minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the incident in a statement circulated by his office.
“The new wave of terrorism is a matter of concern,” he said, adding that Pakistan would continue to fight until the end of militant violence.
Earlier in the day, police and security forces also came under two separate attacks in Dera Ismail Khan district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, resulting in seven fatalities.
The area’s Regional Police Officer, Nasir Hussain Satti, told Arab News one of the blasts was set off by a bomb planted on a motorbike, which exploded near a police van in a congested neighborhood of the city.
“The powerful blast left six civilians dead and another 22 people, including two policemen, wounded,” he informed. “It was a planted device with initial investigations suggesting the use of eight to 10 kilograms of explosives.”
Footage released by Rescue 1122 officials shortly after the incident captured a chaotic scene, with ambulances transporting the injured to hospitals.
Mujtaba Ahmad, a property shop owner near the blast site, described the explosion as powerful enough to rattle the entire marketplace.
He informed most shops were closed for Friday prayers with many people inside mosques at the time of the blast, a factor that likely prevented further casualties and damage.
“Initially, when the explosion occurred, people didn’t know what had happened but they started running,” he continued. “When the cloud of dust settled after the blast, we saw people in blood and damaged motorcycles.”
The second blast, according to the police officer, took place in Takwarra, a small settlement on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan, targeting a security convoy which left soldier dead and another wounded.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s caretaker information minister Feroze Jamal Shah told Arab News the militant attacks during the day had led to precious loss of life, saying medical centers across the district were put on high alert after the explosions.
Expressing grief over the two incidents, he said the government would not bow to militants and continue to fight them.
“The blasts martyred several people and wounded 23,” he added. “We condemn both acts of terrorism in the strongest words. I have directed the district administration to provide best medical care to the wounded.”
Militant attacks in western Pakistan leave 21, including 15 security personnel, dead
https://arab.news/zsjdd
Militant attacks in western Pakistan leave 21, including 15 security personnel, dead
- Militants ambushed two vehicles of security forces moving in Balochistan’s Gwadar district, killing 14 soldiers
- Seven people also lost their lives and 23 injured in dual attacks on security convoys in Dera Ismail Khan district
Pakistan’s OGDC ramps up unconventional gas plans
- Pakistan has long been viewed as having potential in tight and shale gas but commercial output has yet to be proved
- OGDC says has tripled tight-gas study area to 4,500 square km after new seismic, reservoir analysis indicates potential
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s state-run Oil & Gas Development Company is planning a major expansion of unconventional gas developments from early next year, aiming to boost production and reduce reliance on imported liquefied natural gas.
Pakistan has long been viewed as having potential in both tight and shale gas, which are trapped in rock and can only be released with specialized drilling, but commercial output has yet to be proved.
Managing Director Ahmed Lak told Reuters that OGDC had tripled its tight-gas study area to 4,500 square kilometers (1,737 square miles) after new seismic and reservoir analysis indicated larger potential. Phase two of a technical evaluation will finish by end-January, followed by full development plans.
The renewed push comes after US President Donald Trump said Pakistan held “massive” oil reserves in July, a statement analysts said lacked credible geological evidence, but which prompted Islamabad to underscore that it is pursuing its own efforts to unlock unconventional resources.
“We started with 85 wells, but the footprint has expanded massively,” Lak said, adding that OGDC’s next five-year plan would look “drastically different.”
Early results point to a “significant” resource across parts of Sindh and Balochistan, where multiple reservoirs show tight-gas characteristics, he said.
SHALE PILOT RAMPS UP
OGDC is also fast-tracking its shale program, shifting from a single test well to a five- to six-well plan in 2026–27, with expected flows of 3–4 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd) per well.
If successful, the development could scale to hundreds or even more than 1,000 wells, Lak said.
He said shale alone could eventually add 600 mmcfd to 1 billion standard cubic feet per day of incremental supply, though partners would be needed if the pilot proves viable.
The company is open to partners “on a reciprocal basis,” potentially exchanging acreage abroad for participation in Pakistan, he said.
A 2015 US Energy Information Administration study estimated Pakistan had 9.1 billion barrels of technically recoverable shale oil, the largest such resource outside China and the United States.
A 2022 assessment found parts of the Indus Basin geologically comparable to North American shale plays, though analysts say commercial viability still hinges on better geomechanical data, expanded fracking capacity and water availability.
OGDC plans to begin drilling a deep-water offshore well in the Indus Basin, known as the Deepal prospect, in the fourth quarter of 2026, Lak said. In October, Turkiye’s TPAO with PPL and its consortium partners, including OGDC, were awarded a block for offshore exploration.
A combination of weak gas demand, rising solar uptake and a rigid LNG import schedule has created a surplus of gas that forced OGDC to curb output and pushed Pakistan to divert cargoes from Italy’s ENI and seek revised terms with Qatar.
