ISLAMABAD: A series of shootings and bombings by a separatist outfit with roots in Afghanistan scythed through Pakistan‘s restive Balochistan province Monday, killing at least 54 people since dawn – 23 of them bus passengers from Punjab who were supposedly singled out after an identity check, lined up on the road, and shot dead. Officials said 19 security personnel died in the other attacks.
Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi termed the attacks part of “a well thought out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan”.PM Shehbaz Sharif vowed that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice. By evening, 21 militants were killed in the military counter-offensive, the army’s media wing said.
The bloodied trail stretching from highways and rail tracks to police stations and army posts coincided with the 18th death anniversary of tribal chieftain Nawab Muhammad Akbar Khan Bugti, whose killing by the military on Aug 26, 2006, ignited the separatist surge in Balochistan.
Govt officials quoted witnesses as saying that gunmen suspected to be from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) stopped trucks and buses on a highway in Musa Khel district of northeast Balochistan, apparently looking to target people from Punjab province. The victims of the targeted killings were all travelling by the same bus, they said.
“The assailants also set fire to several trucks and buses,” Taimoor Shah, a resident of the area, was quoted as saying.
BLA claimed responsibility for the attacks, but said their targets were military personnel in civvies. The outfit said it had warned the Baloch public to stay away from highways, claiming that its fight was against the Pakistani military.
“We have taken full control of all major highways across Balochistan, blocking them completely,” the outfit said.
Najeeb Kakar, assistant commissioner of Musa Khel, said the armed militants blocked the inter-provincial highway in the remote Rarasham area of the district connecting Punjab with Balochistan. “There were 30 to 40 of them. The group stopped 22 vehicles,” he said. “Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were checked, and those from that province were identified and shot.”
The administration said 10 vehicles were set ablaze.
BLA’s terror run started late Sunday with attacks on police stations and security camps across the volatile province.
Armed men, according to security officials, launched attacks on the paramilitary Levies and police stations in Mastung, Kalat, Pasni and Suntsar, resulting in multiple fatalities. There were also reports of explosions and grenade attacks at Sibi, Panjgur, Mastung, Turbat, Bela, and Quetta.
Rail traffic was suspended following blasts on a rail bridge linking Quetta, the provincial capital, to the rest of Pakistan. Police said they found six unidentified bodies near the site of the attack on the railway bridge.
The attackers also blew up a rail track connecting Pakistan and Iran near the Mastung bypass.
In Kalat, 11 were killed, six of them security personnel. Six more bodies were found in another district in Balochistan.
BLA owned up to the attack on a security post in Bela of Balochistan’s Lasbela district. “A security-clearance operation is going on as we can still hear sounds of gunshots and explosions from the camp,” Attaullah Jamoot, a police officer, said.
The outfit said four suicide bombers, including a woman, from the southern port district of Gwadar, were involved in an attack on a paramilitary base.
Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi termed the attacks part of “a well thought out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan”.PM Shehbaz Sharif vowed that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice. By evening, 21 militants were killed in the military counter-offensive, the army’s media wing said.
The bloodied trail stretching from highways and rail tracks to police stations and army posts coincided with the 18th death anniversary of tribal chieftain Nawab Muhammad Akbar Khan Bugti, whose killing by the military on Aug 26, 2006, ignited the separatist surge in Balochistan.
Govt officials quoted witnesses as saying that gunmen suspected to be from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) stopped trucks and buses on a highway in Musa Khel district of northeast Balochistan, apparently looking to target people from Punjab province. The victims of the targeted killings were all travelling by the same bus, they said.
“The assailants also set fire to several trucks and buses,” Taimoor Shah, a resident of the area, was quoted as saying.
BLA claimed responsibility for the attacks, but said their targets were military personnel in civvies. The outfit said it had warned the Baloch public to stay away from highways, claiming that its fight was against the Pakistani military.
“We have taken full control of all major highways across Balochistan, blocking them completely,” the outfit said.
Najeeb Kakar, assistant commissioner of Musa Khel, said the armed militants blocked the inter-provincial highway in the remote Rarasham area of the district connecting Punjab with Balochistan. “There were 30 to 40 of them. The group stopped 22 vehicles,” he said. “Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were checked, and those from that province were identified and shot.”
The administration said 10 vehicles were set ablaze.
BLA’s terror run started late Sunday with attacks on police stations and security camps across the volatile province.
Armed men, according to security officials, launched attacks on the paramilitary Levies and police stations in Mastung, Kalat, Pasni and Suntsar, resulting in multiple fatalities. There were also reports of explosions and grenade attacks at Sibi, Panjgur, Mastung, Turbat, Bela, and Quetta.
Rail traffic was suspended following blasts on a rail bridge linking Quetta, the provincial capital, to the rest of Pakistan. Police said they found six unidentified bodies near the site of the attack on the railway bridge.
The attackers also blew up a rail track connecting Pakistan and Iran near the Mastung bypass.
In Kalat, 11 were killed, six of them security personnel. Six more bodies were found in another district in Balochistan.
BLA owned up to the attack on a security post in Bela of Balochistan’s Lasbela district. “A security-clearance operation is going on as we can still hear sounds of gunshots and explosions from the camp,” Attaullah Jamoot, a police officer, said.
The outfit said four suicide bombers, including a woman, from the southern port district of Gwadar, were involved in an attack on a paramilitary base.
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