Pakistani counterterrorism police say they disrupted a militant cell in Karachi after raiding several hideouts, arresting three suspects and seizing about two tons of explosives and detonators that officials said were meant for planned attacks in the city.
The operation, described in the evidence packet on the event date of 2026-01-05, was presented by police as a joint effort involving intelligence agencies. Officials said the materials had been transported from Balochistan and that one vehicle loaded with explosives was ready for use before the arrests.
Zulfiqar Ali Larik, a senior counterterrorism official, and Ghulam Azfar Mahesar, a deputy inspector general of police, told reporters that the suspects were associated with the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army. The group has waged an insurgency for more than two decades, with militants seeking greater autonomy and, in some cases, independence from Pakistan. Larik also alleged the BLA is backed by India, a claim New Delhi denies.
The seizure matters because Pakistani officials have repeatedly warned that Baloch separatists and other insurgent groups are adapting their tactics. The packet says authorities believe the BLA has increasingly sought to use female attackers to avoid detection. It also notes that police detained a teenage girl the previous week after saying she had been radicalized online for a suicide attack, only to release her without charges after concluding she was a victim rather than a suspect.
The latest raid follows a period in which the BLA has remained one of Pakistan’s most persistent internal security threats. The group has targeted security forces, civilians, and Chinese nationals working on projects tied to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The AP evidence also recalls a March attack last year in which BLA insurgents killed 33 people, mostly soldiers, in an assault on a train in Balochistan.
Officials said the Karachi operation began with one arrest, then widened after interrogation led investigators to the others. Additional raids were underway to find remaining members of the network who escaped, they said.
The evidence does not indicate whether charges have been filed against the three suspects, and the police account is still an official one. Still, the scale of the seizure suggests the network had already accumulated a large amount of material capable of causing mass casualties if it had reached its intended targets.
For Pakistani authorities, the case is another reminder that the threat is not confined to Balochistan itself. Karachi, the country’s largest city and commercial hub, remains a possible target because it offers dense populations, symbolic value, and the logistical complexity that can challenge security services. The claim from officials is that the raids came just in time.
Any final assessment will depend on whether the seized materials can be tied conclusively to the suspects and whether investigators can map the rest of the network. For now, the official account is that a major attack plot was interrupted before it could be executed.
