Authorities in Pakistan reported Monday that insurgents had killed more than 40 civilians and security personnel in separate overnight attacks across the turbulent southwestern province of Baluchistan.
The violence started late Sunday, with armed men blocking an interprovincial highway in the Musakhail district and killing at least 23 passengers after forcing them off multiple buses and trucks, the authorities said.
Ayub Achakzai, a senior area police officer, told reporters that the victims mostly were from Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan. He said the attackers inspected the passengers' identities before executing them and set fire to 10 vehicles before fleeing.
Separately, authorities reported that insurgents had also carried out hit-and-run raids against police and military targets elsewhere in the sparsely populated province Sunday night. At least 14 soldiers, four police officers, and five civilians, including a pro-government tribal elder, were killed, the Pakistani military and local officials reported.
An outlawed insurgent group, the Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, took responsibility for the overnight violence, claiming it targeted those working for Pakistani security forces and reported a much higher casualty toll.
The separatist group often issues inflated claims and is notorious for launching deadly attacks on residents from other parts of Pakistan who come to work or travel through Baluchistan, which is rich in natural resources.
The military's media wing announced Monday afternoon that its forces, along with other local law enforcement agencies, retaliated and killed "21 terrorists in ensuing clearance operations.”
However, the BLA confirmed the deaths of six fighters in clashes with Pakistani forces and described the slain insurgents as suicide bombers.
Neither claim could be verified by independent sources.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Sunday's terrorist attacks on passenger vehicles and in several other districts of Baluchistan, his office said.
The BLA claimed in its statement that its latest attacks are part of a new operation launched across Baluchistan and warned residents of the province to “stay away from the highways and cooperate with the Baloch fighters.”
The separatist group, in a subsequent statement Monday, claimed that after having “achieved their objectives,” BLA fighters had been ordered to end their road “blockades and vacate their positions.”
The series of insurgent attacks marked the deadliest day Baluchistan had experienced in recent years.
BLA, listed as a global terrorist organization by the United States, and several other banned ethnic Baluch groups routinely conduct attacks in Baluchistan, claiming to be fighting for its independence from Pakistan.
The impoverished province shares the country’s border with Iran and Afghanistan. It hosts major China-funded infrastructure projects, including the Chinese-operated deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.
BLA has warned Beijing repeatedly against investing in Baluchistan and allegedly taking away its natural resources. They have targeted Chinese nationals associated with these projects.
Pakistan and China reject insurgent allegations of exploitation and have pledged to combat the security threat jointly.
