QUETTA, Pakistan. A series of militant attacks across Pakistan’s Balochistan province has claimed the lives of at least 51 people, according to officials on Monday. The attacks, carried out by separatist militants targeting police stations, railway lines, and highways, mark the most extensive assault by ethnic insurgents in years as they continue their decades-long struggle for independence.
The militants’ attacks on Sunday and Monday, followed by retaliatory operations by security forces, have left a trail of destruction and death. Among the dead are 23 people who were killed when vehicles, including buses and goods trucks, were ambushed on a major highway, with 35 vehicles set ablaze.
“These attacks are a well-thought-out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement. He added that security forces responded swiftly, killing 12 militants in the operations that followed the initial attacks.
Rail traffic in Balochistan has been severely disrupted. Blasts on a rail bridge connecting Quetta to the rest of Pakistan and another rail link to neighboring Iran forced the suspension of services, according to Muhammad Kashif, a railways official. Six unidentified bodies were found near the site of the attack on the railway bridge, further underscoring the deadly nature of these coordinated assaults.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the largest of several ethnic insurgent groups fighting the central government, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement to journalists. The BLA, which has long accused the government of exploiting Balochistan’s rich gas and mineral resources, also seeks the expulsion of Chinese interests from the region. The group claims to have carried out additional attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm these claims.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed that security forces will retaliate and bring those responsible to justice.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, General Li Qiaoming, commander of China’s People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces, met with Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, on Monday. While the meeting discussed regional security and bilateral defense cooperation, no mention was made of the attacks in Balochistan.
Brutal Highway Attack
On Sunday night, armed men blocked a highway in Balochistan, forcing passengers off vehicles before executing them after checking their identity cards, according to Senior Superintendent of Police Ayub Achakzai. The attackers also targeted trucks carrying coal, killing the drivers before setting the vehicles on fire.
“The armed men not only killed passengers but also killed the drivers of trucks carrying coal,” said Hameed Zahir, the deputy commissioner of the area.
The BLA justified these attacks by claiming that its fighters targeted military personnel traveling in civilian clothes, who were shot after being identified. However, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has stated that the victims were innocent civilians.
In another incident, six security personnel, three civilians, and one tribal elder were killed in clashes with armed militants who stormed a station of the Balochistan Levies in the central district of Kalat. Additionally, police stations in two southern coastal towns were also attacked, though the death toll from these incidents has yet to be confirmed.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province, remains underdeveloped and plagued by high levels of poverty. The ongoing insurgency and militant violence have further complicated efforts to stabilize the region, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
