On 29th August 2025, A few unidentified armed men opened fire on the Gilgit Baltistan Scouts’ post near Chilas at midnight, leaving 2 personnel dead—Naib Subedar Khush Dad and Havaldar Ashraf—and injuring Lance Naik Sajid Ali, who is now in stable condition.
These Scouts were administering a checkpost on the Karakoram Highway which is a crucial route connecting the northern areas and China to the rest of Central and Southern Pakistan.
After the attack Authorities retrieved grenades and spent shells from the site, while the Elite security force launched a search operation which unfortunately did not meet success in identifying the culprit.
The Karakoram Highway, which is referred to as a “friendship highway” between Pakistan and China, is a vital trade and travel route. However In recent years, terrorist groups have damaged the image of this mountainous terrain. With a potential threat posed by the illegal Afghan militants, Pakistan has to frequently carry out various counter-terrorist operations in defying these networks to safeguard its sovereignty and to maintain national security.
Even though the network behind this tragic event has not been confirmed yet, joint forces aim to continue these operations until those behind the attack are brought to justice.
The sacrifice of the fallen soldiers has been widely mourned in Gilgit-Baltistan, where the GB Scouts play a key role in maintaining security in a difficult terrain and fighting against breaking terrorist networks, who are primarily the illegal immigrants from the Afghan territories.
Just a few days back from this attack a significant noticable event occured, on 29th July when the Military launched an operation targeting Taliban Militants in Bajaur, Mamund Tehsil, Khayber Pakhtunkhwa where the operation followed a three day curfew across 16 villages and led to the displacement of 100,000 people and civilian casualties.
During this operation the Pakistani Forces launched a full scale engagement where helicopter gunships, artillery shelling and ground forces were all used to dismantle terrorist networks, to an extent that the Army also carried out house-to-house searches to unleash all militant hideouts or locate their whereabouts.
Which all signals and hints at how abrupt and short notice terrorist activities need to be monitored by the nation, and deal with them timely to minimise the scale of loss.
