QUETTA (AFP) – Separatist militants killed at least 39 people in “coordinated” attacks in southwestern Pakistan on Monday that largely targeted ethnic Punjabis, government officials said.
In one of the attacks, dozens of militants stopped vehicles travelling on a highway through Balochistan province and shot 23 people dead – one of the worst shootings in the region in the past several years.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active militant separatist group in the province, claimed responsibility for an overnight operation in a statement sent to AFP.
Government officials have reported deadly attacks in at least three districts in Balochistan, where security forces are battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence.
“We have confirmed 39 people killed in several coordinated attacks carried out by the BLA terrorists,” spokesman for the Balochistan provincial government Shahid Rind told AFP.
In Musakhail district, between 30 and 40 gunmen stopped 22 buses, vans and trucks one after the other on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan, senior official Najibullah Kakar told AFP.
“Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot,” he said.
In its statement, the BLA said it had launched an operation “on highways across Balochistan”, claiming to have targeted only security personnel.
Militants also blew up a railway bridge in nearby Bolan district on a track that connects the province to Punjab and Sindh, with six bodies found nearby, said a senior government official in the district Javed Baloch.
Ten people were also killed in Kalat district, including four paramilitary officers and one policeman responding to incidents, provincial government spokesman Rind said.
Nabi Baksh, from the Levies paramilitary force that works alongside the police, said gunmen had stormed a hotel and also targeted a village elder with perceived links to the security forces.
