QUETTA: Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove said his convoy came under fire in the Mastung area the previous day, telling a press conference in Quetta that five personnel were injured in the attack.

Langove, addressing the media . hesaid he was travelling from Kalat his home constituency, where he had gone to attend Independence Day events .after that he get back for Quetta without a security squad When armed men opened fire on his vehicle. One police vehicle in the convoy was surrounded by the attackers, he said.

He said police personnel confronted the assailants, and that the Mastung units of the Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF), police and the Frontier Corps (FC) responded within minutes, reaching the scene and driving off the attackers. The five injured personnel were taken to hospital within 15 minutes, he said.

Langove alleged that the leadership of the militant groups operating in the province is not acting independently, claiming they are "in the grip" of external actors and that their leaders are based in Afghanistan. He alleged the groups responsible for violence against women and children in Baloch households do not represent the Baloch people, asserting they are backed by India remarks he repeated in stronger terms, saying such elements carry "India's DNA," not a Baloch or Taliban one. He separately accused the militants of extorting money from landowners and said he had seen a photograph of a commander from a banned organisation whom he described as unlike an ordinary person. (These remain the minister's allegations and have not been independently verified.)

He appealed to the public, saying Baloch youth are being lured away by these groups and that the community needs to think about the future of its children.

He also said there is no "no-go area" on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway, while acknowledging that militants are present along national highways generally.

Langove said 30 to 35 ambulances had been provided to residents of Khaliq Abad and Kalat, areas that previously had none, to allow women and other patients to reach hospitals. He alleged that militants are now seizing these ambulances from hospitals, and said women in the affected areas have appealed for their return.

Separately, he praised the public's participation in Independence Day celebrations across Balochistan and commended security forces for the arrangements made during the events. He said he attended Independence Day functions in Kalat, meeting with officials from various departments there.

Langove also referred to a separate tribal dispute in Balochistan in which six women were killed, saying action would be taken against those involved.