Pakistan: Balochistan militant attacks leave dozens dead

A string of militant attacks targeting civilians and police in southwestern Pakistan left dozens dead, officials said on Monday. 

The attacks took place in the country's Balochistan region, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan. It was the most widespread assault by separatist insurgents in the area in many years.

"These attacks are a well thought out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan," Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement.

Officials said more than 60 people were killed in the violence. Pakistan's military said at least 14 soldiers and police were among the dead.

Balochistan is the country's largest province by size, but it is also the least populated. Balochistan remains largely underdeveloped and has high poverty levels. The restive region is rich in oil and mineral wealth and it is home to China-led infrastructure projects.

Several attacks across Balochistan

The first attack took place overnight on Sunday in the Balochistan district of Musakhail, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said, where militants set at least 10 vehicles ablaze. 

They targeted vehicles from buses to goods trucks, killing at least 23 passengers in execution-style shootings, Balochistan's Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said. 

Then early on Monday, a second attack took place, where gunmen killed four police officers and five civilians in Qalat district. 

Militants also set off explosives on a railway track in Bolan district, attacked a police station in Mastung district and attacked and burned vehicles in Gwadar district. Officials said the bodies of six people were found in Bolan.

Some 12 insurgents killed

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Naqvi released separate statements calling the attack in Musakhail "barbaric." 

Naqvi said security forces had killed 12 insurgents who participated in the attacks. He said "terrorists and their facilitators will have no place to hide" in the country.

Prime Minister Sharif vowed that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice.

European Commission spokesperson Nabila Massrali said the EU condemned the attacks.

Balochistan has been home to a long-running insurgency by militants who demand independence from the central government. Pakistan has an array of separatist groups who mainly target security forces in the area.

Prior to the attack in Musakhail, the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) had warned people to stay away from highways.

In a statement on Monday, the group did not officially take responsibility for the string of attacks, but it said it had inflicted heavy losses on security forces in the region.

jcg/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)