Quetta, Feb 3 (NVI) A 60-year-old elderly woman, a middle aged couple and a 23-year-old girl — they were among the many suicide attackers of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) who took part in the ‘Operation Herof’ launched against the colonizer Pakistani military and administration in Balochistan on January 31.
These suicide attackers, along with thousands of other heavily-armed fighters of BLA, caused havoc among the Pakistani forces at multiple places across Balochistan.
Hundreds of Pakistani soldiers have been killed and injured in the coordinated and simultaneous attacks launched by BLA fighters on the morning of January 31 and continue even now.
These attackers included several women ‘fidayeen’ (suicide attackers), which conveys how desperate the ethnic Baloch people have become because of the extreme oppression by the Pakistani armed forces and the police controlled by the occupier Pakistani State.
The fact that even women, old as well as young, willingly opt for such suicidal missions underscores that Pakistan and its forces have pushed to the wall the people of Balochistan who have been struggling for independence of the region captured militarily by Pakistan in 1948.
Here is the example of fidayeen Hatam Naz Sumalani alias Gul Bibi, a resident of Gharbok in Bolan in Balochistan, who carried out the suicide mission as part of ‘Operation Herof 2’ at the age of 60 years.
Hatam Naz Sumalani joined BLA in 2015 after she was fed up with the atrocities carried out by the Pakistani forces.
She participated in a BLA operation in 2016, during which she was wounded and captured by the Pakistani forces.
She was in the captivity of Pakistani forces for 4 months, during which she was brutally tortured and left scarred mentally.
Finally, in January 2023, she made her decision to be a fidayeen, at an age when a person normally tends to go into safety and comfort. But she chose a different path altogether, suggesting how much oppressed she would have been.
Now, take another case of 28-year-old Yasma Baloch alias Zareena, and her 32-yeare-old husband Waseem Baloch alias Zirbar, who carried out the suicide mission together while participating in the Operation Herof 2.
“They shared a marriage before they shared a final stand,” said a statement by BLA.
Yasma and Waseem “sacrificed their lives together while attacking the occupying forces’ camp in Pasni. Their story is not only about death, but about how private life and national duty fully converged, turning a partnership into a symbol of shared commitment and resistance,” it said.
“The two were bound by partnership and a shared decision to give everything for what they believed the freedom of their motherland demanded,” the BLA statement added.
Yasma from Buleda had joined the BLA’s Majeed Brigadge, which specializes in suicide missions, in 2022. Waseem, hailing from Zamuran, was active in the movement in 2014 and joined the Majeed Brigade in 2022, according to the statement.
Another tragically extraordinary story is that of fidayeen Asifa Mengal, a 23-year-old beautiful young woman who carried out the suicide mission by attacking the headquarters of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI in Noshki on January 31.
She drove a vehicle loaded with explosives and rammed it into the main gate of the complex, destroying it through a huge explosion and enabling her associate fighters to gain entry to the premises.
Born on October 2, 2002, Asifa Mengal joined the BLA’s Majeed Brigade on October 2, 2023, and took her fidayee decision in January 2024, according to the statement.
“At a young age, she became part of a trajectory shaped by conviction rather than circumstance. On 31 January 2026, she carried out a VBIED operation targeting the ISI headquarters in Noshki,” the BLA said.
Hawa Baloch was another female fidayeen of BLA’s Majeed Brigade, who participated in the operation and died during an attack in Gwadar on January 31 after fighting valiantly against the Pakistani forces.
“During Operation Herof, Phase Two at the Gwadar Front, Fidayee Hawa Baloch fought selflessly, shoulder to shoulder with fellow Fidayeen,” the BLA said.
About 12 hours before her death, she issued a video statement to describe the operation and her state of mind.
Sabzal Baloch was another suicide attacker, who gave up his life while attacking an installation of Pakistani forces in Pasni on January 31.
He had joined the BLA in 2022 and became a part of the Majeed Brigade in 2023.
“Over a limited span of years, his path reflected sustained intent rather than momentary impulse. Each decision was taken with awareness of consequence and responsibility, shaped by lived experience rather than circumstance. What he ultimately gave was not a single act, but his entire life to a cause he consciously chose and consistently upheld,” the BLA statement said. (NVI)
