Operation Shaban is a joint offensive by the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan and the Balochistan Police, launched in early July 2026 after a wave of attacks across the province.
It is running on two fronts: against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the Pashtun-majority north around Ziarat, and against the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) in the Baloch-majority south around Lasbela and Khuzdar.
The figures below are drawn from Pakistani security sources and state media as relayed by local outlets, and none has been independently verified.
- September 2025: In an early marker of the escalation, a BLA ambush on a military convoy killed 32 troops, an attack the Express Tribune later cited from a United Nations Security Council report on the province.
- 5 July 2026: The current sequence opened near Quetta, where Voicepk reported the TTP struck at Hanna Urak, one of two attacks the group claimed as the violence began.
- 6 July: In Ziarat district, TTP fighters mounted a multi-directional attack on a police checkpost guarding the Mangi Dam project. The Express Tribune reported nine officers killed, including two station house officers, as the attackers overran the post and abducted 18 surviving personnel.
- 6–7 July: Security forces launched a clearance operation around Ziarat, with Pakistan Observer reporting 26 militants killed as ground troops and helicopters pushed into mountain hideouts.
- 8 July: The fighting spread south when Pakistan’s military said the BLA ambushed an army convoy in the Bela-Winder area of Lasbela, killing 11 soldiers in the deadliest single strike of the sequence. At a press conference in Rawalpindi the same day, the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said the 18 police abducted at Mangi Dam had all been killed and that 54 militants had died in operations over three days.
- 9 July: In the south, an attack on a police station in the Zehri area of Khuzdar was repelled early Thursday. Daily Pakistan reported eight killed in the initial exchange, and Pakistan Observer reported five to six more killed in follow-up helicopter operations. The Operation Shaban tally reached 39.
- 10 July: The Express Tribune reported the Operation Shaban toll rising to 43. The wider count since 5 July diverged sharply across outlets, running from 75 in Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti’s account to 79 reported by Geo News.
11 July
The heaviest day of the offensive so far. Security sources described three separate operations over the course of the day, alongside a separate intelligence-based operation (IBO).
- First operation (early). Nine militants were killed, taking the Operation Shaban total to 52 and the count since 5 July to 88. State-run Pakistan TV said the Army, FC Balochistan and Police were intensifying coordinated air and ground operations against militant hideouts. Daily Ausaf reported the targets were struck through air and ground operations in difficult mountainous areas and along remote routes.
- Second operation. Aaj English TV reported five more killed.
- Third operation — 1745 hrs. ISPR issued a timestamped update reporting seven more killed and putting the overall total since 5 July at 102. Its statement described a “large-scale air and ground offensive” by the Army, FC Balochistan and Police continuing “with full vigour,” and said the operation would run until the last militant is eliminated. No end date has been set. ISPR characterized the dead as foreign nationals.
Separate IBO. State-run Radio Pakistan reported two militants killed near the N-25 crossing, in an action the state attributed to Baloch militants rather than the TTP. Weapons, hand grenades, a motorcycle, mobile phones and flags were reported recovered.
Air assets. Aaj English TV reported that helicopters and Pakistan Air Force assets struck hideouts in remote mountainous terrain while ground troops conducted search and clearance.
