Pakistan air strikes killed at least three civilians, including two women, and injured five others, including a four-year-old child, after forces bombed residential homes in Balochistan’s Zehri region, a leading human rights group said on Thursday.
BYC Accuses Pakistan of Targeting Civilians
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) reported that Pakistani forces carried out air and drone strikes late Wednesday night in the Terasani (Qazib) area of Zehri, Khuzdar district. The attack killed three civilians and injured five more.
“The use of jet fighters and drones against civilian populations is a grave violation of international humanitarian law. This is not an isolated case. In the past two months, Zehri has witnessed at least three separate incidents of aerial bombardment and drone strikes,” the BYC stated.
Citing local residents, the BYC said drones continued to hover over the region, spreading fear and psychological trauma. Several families remained under the constant threat of attack.
The group accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of attempting to justify the killings by branding the victims as ‘insurgents’.
BYC described this as ‘a common narrative’ used to cover up state-perpetrated atrocities against the Baloch people.
The BYC asserted that the attacks form part of a broader policy of collective punishment against civilians.
“For months, the entire district of Khuzdar, including Zehri, has been under a complete internet shutdown. This deliberate communication blackout prevents the outside world from learning about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Balochistan,” the statement read.
The group further alleged that the communication blackout allows Pakistani forces to commit atrocities with impunity.
“This systematic targeting of civilians amounts to a war crime and forms part of the larger Baloch genocide,” it said, citing enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and aerial bombardments.
BVJ Labels Attack ‘State Terrorism’
Another human rights group, the Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ), condemned the attack as ‘state terrorism’. The group insisted the victims were ordinary civilians, not insurgents.
“The attack is a grave violation of international humanitarian law. It follows a pattern of collective punishment through enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and aerial bombardments. With Khuzdar under a deliberate internet blackout, the world is kept blind to these crimes,” the BVJ said.
The BVJ demanded that the United Nations and Amnesty International investigate the atrocities.
“The use of fighter jets and drones against unarmed civilians is a war crime,” the group declared.
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