Islamabad, Pakistan – At least six militants and four security officials were killed in a nighttime attack in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province.

Jan Achakzai, the provincial information minister, said on Tuesday the attackers, belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), used weapons and missiles to attack military and security facilities in the town of Mach, 65 km (40 miles) south of Balochistan’s capital Quetta , attacked .

When they encountered resistance, the attackers moved to “less secure” areas and focused their attack on the Mach police station, an official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media .

“An eviction operation is currently underway in the city’s suburbs,” he said. “The terrain here is quite difficult, but we hope to be able to make it by the end of the day.”

In a statement shared with Al Jazeera, the BLA claimed responsibility for the attack and said its “freedom fighters” carried out the operation.

BLA is a banned armed group that is part of a broader rebellion in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and least populated province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. The province is also the poorest in the country, despite being rich in mineral resources and huge reserves of natural gas.

Shuja Kasi, Balochistan’s inspector general of prisons, said the attack caused minor damage to the police station and the adjacent prison, where he said 800 inmates, including 90 on death row, were safe.

“There was some damage to the doors and windows, while some staff rooms used by officers sustained minor damage,” he told Al Jazeera.

Mach resident Iqbal Yousufzai said there was a large explosion around 9pm (1600 GMT) on Monday, followed by gunfire that lasted almost 12 hours.

“The explosion damaged the windows of my house. After that, the shooting started and continued intermittently until at least 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning,” he said.

The decades-long rebel movement in Balochistan accuses the Pakistani government of neglecting its residents and unfairly distributing resources.

The rebellion saw several attacks on Pakistani security forces and Chinese citizens working on the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the province, triggering a forceful response from the Pakistani state.

Security forces were frequently accused of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Baloch people suspected of supporting the insurgency.

The attack came amid heightened global attention on Balochistan after a Iranian airstrike and a month-long sit-in by Baloch people in the capital Islamabad.

Last month, Iranian forces attacked inside Pakistani territory, killing at least two children on the outskirts of Panjgur town in Balochistan. Iran said its attack targeted another armed group, Jaish al-Adl, based in the province.

Pakistan launched one Retaliatory attack Two days later, at least nine people described by Iranian media as “non-Iranians” were killed. Islamabad said its response was based on “credible intelligence” that some armed groups had been given sanctuary in Iran.

This was followed by the Baloch protest in Islamabad Killing of a young man State officials claimed he was a rebel – an accusation his family denied. After their protests in Balochistan failed to meet their demands, Baloch demonstrators headed to Islamabad in December to stage a week-long sit-in.

As Pakistan prepares for it general election On February 8, security analysts warned that Baloch separatists had already condemned the elections.

“The Baloch secessionists remain the only faction that has continuously targeted election campaigns and party meetings, but the scale of these attacks did not extend beyond corner meetings and election offices,” analyst Iftikhar Firdous told Al Jazeera.

Firdous, the founding editor of The Khorasan Diary, a news and research portal that tracks and analyzes security issues in the region, said the timing of the attack was the “more interesting part of the optics.”

“The BLA attack in Pakistan seems to indicate that while countries will do their best to maintain diplomatic subtlety in their conduct, the approach at the borders will determine the future course of the conflict,” Firdous said.