In a bid to boost the morale of its cadre, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has issued a statement detailing its massive, coordinated suicide attack on the fortified compound of ISIS-K commander Shafiq Mengal in Pakistan’s Khuzdar city last week, claiming to have killed 34 operatives, including Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists besides the Islamic State.In the statement, which is known for its confident tone, the rebel group claimed responsibility for the operation – which involved vehicle-borne explosives and a team of suicide bombers – describing it as the official start of a wider offensive codenamed “Operation Murg-e-Ghadran”.The attack took place during a gathering at the compound, which included Pakistani intelligence officials, operators of international terrorist networks including ISIS and Lashkar-e-Taiba, and former Afghan soldiers, who were reportedly meeting to coordinate efforts against the Baloch political movement, the BLA revealed in its statement. This has once again exposed the closeness between Pakistan’s ISI and Islamic State groups, which are being used to crush the Baloch freedom struggle.Falsely alleging Indian involvement in the incident, Mengal, who survived the attack, said that 17 of his eating companions were killed in an explosion. He said the attackers later engaged in an armed clash with people inside the compound. The attack was carried out by the Majeed Brigade, the special self-sacrifice wing of the BLA. The operation was reportedly launched after weeks of close surveillance by Zirab, the BLA’s intelligence wing, which had monitored a high-level meeting.The BLA claimed that the 34 people killed in the shooting were primary members of Mengal’s personal network, whom they accused of direct involvement in targeted killings, abductions and forced disappearances of Baloch political activists and students.