QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces killed about two dozen militants overnight in multiple raids in the insurgency-hit southwest bordering Afghanistan, raising the militant death toll to 177 in the past 48 hours, officials said Monday, following a wave of coordinated insurgent attacks that killed at least 33 people, mostly civilian.
Police, backed by the military, have been conducting these raids in several areas against members of the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army since early Saturday, after nearly 200 militants in small groups carried out simultaneous suicide bombings and gun attacks on police stations, civilian homes, and security facilities across the province.
Analysts say the scale of militant deaths in the past 48 hours is the highest in decades.
The weekend attacks claimed by BLA killed at least 18 civilians and 15 members of the security forces, drawing widespread condemnation from political leaders across Pakistan, including members of the party led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
On Monday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in a statement praised the security forces for killing an additional 22 insurgents. He described those killed as “Indian-backed terrorists.” However, he offered no evidence, and there was no immediate response from New Delhi.
Though Pakistan’s largest province, Baluchistan is its least populated, made up largely of high mountains. It’s also a hub for the country’s ethnic Baluch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government. That has fueled a separatist insurgency demanding independence. Islamic militants also operate in the province.
Though authorities said normalcy largely returned to the province on Monday, the train service between Balochistan and rest of the country remained suspended for a third consecutive day. Provincial authorities suspended train services following the attacks, citing security concerns, and the suspension remains in effect.
In March, at least 31 people were killed when BLA militants attacked the Jaffar express train carrying hundreds of people in Balochistan, taking passengers hostage before security forces launched a rescue operation. All 33 assailants were killed, and the passengers were freed.
The BLA, which is banned in Pakistan, has carried out numerous attacks in recent years, frequently targeting security forces, Chinese interests, and infrastructure projects. Authorities say the group has operated with support from the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.
People walk past the site of Saturday's suicide bombing, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Police officers examine the site of Saturday's suicide bombing, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
CAIRO (AP) — Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt reopened on Monday for limited traffic, a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire but a mostly symbolic development on the ground as few people will be allowed to travel in either direction and no goods will pass through it.
Within the first few hours of the opening, however, no one was seen crossing in or out of Gaza. An Egyptian official said 50 Palestinians were expected to cross in each direction on the first day of Rafah's operation. About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care hope to leave the devastated Gaza via the crossing, according to Gaza health officials.
Thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to enter and return home.
State-run Egyptian media and an Israeli security official also confirmed the reopening. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Before the war, Rafah was the main crossing for people moving in and out of Gaza. The territory’s handful of other crossings are all shared with Israel. Under the terms of the ceasefire, which went into effect in October, Israel’s military controls the area between the Rafah crossing and the zone where most Palestinians live.
Violence still continued across the coastal territory Monday, and Gaza hospital officials said an Israeli navy ship had fired on a tent camp, killing a 3-year-old Palestinian boy. Israel’s military said it was looking into the incident.
Rajaa Abu Mustafa stood Monday outside a Gaza hospital where her 17-year-old son Mohamed was awaiting evacuation. He was blinded by a shot to the eye last year as he joined desperate Palestinians seeking food from aid trucks east of the city of Khan Younis.
“We have been waiting for the crossing to open,” she said. “Now it’s opened and the health ministry called and told us that we will travel to Egypt for (his) treatment.”
About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive Palestinian patients evacuated from Gaza through Rafah, authorities said. Also, the Egyptian Red Crescent said it has readied “safe spaces” on the Egyptian side of the crossing to support those evacuated from the Gaza Strip.
Israel has banned sending patients to hospitals in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began — a move that cut off what was previously the main outlet for Palestinians needing medical treatment unavailable in Gaza.
Israel has said it and Egypt will vet people for exit and entry through the Rafah crossing, which will be supervised by European Union border patrol agents with a small Palestinian presence. The numbers of travelers are expected to increase over time, if the system is successful.
Fearing that Israel could use the crossing to push Palestinians out of the enclave, Egypt has repeatedly said it must be open for them to enter and exit Gaza. Historically, Israel and Egypt have vetted Palestinians applying to cross.
A 3-year-old Palestinian was killed Monday when Israel navy hit tents sheltering displaced people on the coast of Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, Palestinian hospital authorities said.
According to the Nasser hospital, which received the body, the attack happened in Muwasi, a tent camp area on the Gaza Strip’s coast. The boy was the latest among Palestinians in Gaza since the October ceasefire in Gaza.
More than 520 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire went into effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza's health ministry. The casualties since the ceasefire, which UNICEF said include more than 100 children, are among the over 71,700 Palestinians killed since the start of Israel’s offensive, according to ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.
The ministry, which is part of Gaza's Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Israeli troops seized the Rafah crossing in May 2024, calling it part of efforts to combat arms-smuggling for the militant Hamas group. The crossing was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical patients during a ceasefire in early 2025.
Israel had resisted reopening the Rafah crossing, but the recovery of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza cleared the way to move forward.
The reopening is seen as a key step as the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement moves into its second phase. In time, Rafah is expected to ramp up operations if the ceasefire holds.
The truce halted more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas that began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Its first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.
The second phase of the ceasefire deal is more complicated. It calls for installing the new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and taking steps to begin rebuilding.
Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Mourners pray beside the body of Iyad Abu Rabi, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Khadija Abu Rabi cradles the body of her son, Iyad, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Khadija Abu Rabi mourns over the body of her son, Iyad, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A crane enters the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
Trucks carrying humanitarian aids line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing, heading for inspection by Israeli authorities before entering the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
Ambulances line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing on the way to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
