What happened
Gunmen killed a district and sessions judge and his security guard in Balochistan on Thursday, 23 July 2026, opening fire on their vehicle as the judges travelled from the provincial capital Quetta to Mastung district.
District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar and his guard were killed at the Wali Khan crossing, Balochistan Home Department aide Babar Yousafzai told Dawn. Additional Sessions Judge Tariq Lashari and another person were wounded and taken to a hospital in Mastung.
Mastung District Police Officer Allah Bakhsh Baloch said the judges were heading to the sessions court in Mastung when their vehicle came under fire, Geo News reported. He said the area was cordoned off and a search operation was launched for the attackers. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Why it matters
The ambush underscored the worsening security situation in Balochistan, where separatist insurgents have intensified attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months. It came a day after three passengers were killed when gunmen fired on a Karachi-bound bus in Mastung’s Khud Kocha area, and after a bridge on the national highway there was blown up, according to Dawn.
Arab News reported that authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in the Khud Kocha sub-tehsil after three attacks in six days killed 10 civilians. It said the judge was attacked in Mastung city’s Paring Abad area, and that police had launched a search operation to hunt down the gunmen.
The killing of a serving judge is a direct challenge to the state’s authority in a district that sits on the N-25 highway linking Quetta to Karachi, and it followed repeated vows by the civil and military leadership to intensify operations against militant networks in the province under the Azm-e-Istehkam campaign.
What is still uncertain
No group had claimed responsibility by the time of reporting, and police had not announced any arrests or identified a motive. Officials did not say whether the attack on the judges was connected to the bus ambush a day earlier. The condition of the injured additional sessions judge was not immediately clear.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited sources, which were reviewed on 23 July 2026.
- Dawn — "Sessions judge, guard killed after vehicles targeted en route to Mastung"23 July 2026 · The identities of the victims, the location of the ambush and the wounded.
- Geo News — "Sessions judge, gunman shot dead in Balochistan's Mastung district"23 July 2026 · The police account of the attack and the search operation.
- Arab News Pakistan — "Gunmen kill judge, security guard in southwestern Pakistan amid curfew"23 July 2026 · The curfew in Khud Kocha and the earlier attacks that killed 10 civilians.
