WION Web Team
Balochistan, Pakistan
Edited By: Harshit Sabarwal
Updated: Aug 26, 2024
Balochistan militant attacks: A look at the latest updates. Photograph:(Reuters)
Story highlights
Separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines, and highways in the province.
The most widespread assault by ethnic insurgents in years forms part of a decades-long effort to win the secession of Balochistan.
The death toll due to militant attacks in Pakistan's Balochistan has climbed to over 70, the news agency Reuters reported on Monday (Aug 26) citing officials. Separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines and highways in the province.
The most widespread assault by ethnic insurgents in years forms part of a decades-long effort to win the secession of Balochistan, which is home to major China-led projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine.
Officials told Reuters the largest of the attacks targeted vehicles from buses to goods trucks on a major highway, killing at least 23 people, with 35 vehicles being set ablaze.
"These attacks are a well thought out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan," Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement, adding that security forces had killed 12 militants in operations after the attacks on Sunday and Monday.
Here's a look at the latest updates:
> Rail traffic with Quetta was suspended following blasts on a rail bridge linking the provincial capital to the rest of Pakistan, as well as on a rail link to neighbouring Iran, a railways official told Reuters.
> Police said they had found six as yet unidentified bodies near the site of the attack on the railway bridge.
> Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti also strongly condemned the incident and expressed condolences to the families of those who died in the cowardly act of terrorists.
> In a strong warning to the terrorists, Chief Minister Bugti said, "The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end."
> Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice.
> Meanwhile, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said, "The terrorists showed brutality by targeting innocent passengers near Musakhail. The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end."
> The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility in a statement to journalists that claimed many more attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm these.
> The BLA is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have battled the central government for decades, saying it unfairly exploits Balochistan's gas and mineral resources. It seeks the expulsion of China and independence for the province.
(With inputs from agencies)
"These attacks are a well thought out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan," Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement, adding that security forces had killed 12 militants in operations after the attacks on Sunday and Monday.
Here's a look at the latest updates:
> Rail traffic with Quetta was suspended following blasts on a rail bridge linking the provincial capital to the rest of Pakistan, as well as on a rail link to neighbouring Iran, a railways official told Reuters.
> Police said they had found six as yet unidentified bodies near the site of the attack on the railway bridge.
> Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti also strongly condemned the incident and expressed condolences to the families of those who died in the cowardly act of terrorists.
> In a strong warning to the terrorists, Chief Minister Bugti said, "The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end."
> Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice.
> Meanwhile, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said, "The terrorists showed brutality by targeting innocent passengers near Musakhail. The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end."
> The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility in a statement to journalists that claimed many more attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm these.
> The BLA is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have battled the central government for decades, saying it unfairly exploits Balochistan's gas and mineral resources. It seeks the expulsion of China and independence for the province.
(With inputs from agencies)
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