Separatists have launched “coordinated” attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, killing at least 15 security personnel and 18 civilians, the military said – the latest violence in the country’s insurgency-hit southwestern region.
Officials said 92 militants, including “three suicide bombers”, were also killed.
Pakistan has been fighting a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, with frequent attacks on security forces, foreigners and non-locals in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
The military’s media wing said in a statement that attacks had taken place in several locations, including the provincial capital Quetta and Gwadar.
“Eighteen innocent civilians” and 15 security personnel were killed, the military media wing (ISPR) said in a statement, bringing the death toll among the militants to 92.
The circumstances surrounding the civilians’ deaths were not immediately clear.
Baloch separatists have previously targeted civilians believed to have collaborated with government agencies.
A senior military official in Islamabad said the attacks were “coordinated but poorly executed”, adding that they “failed due to poor planning and rapid collapse under effective security responses”.
‘One after the other explosions’
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised security forces for “foiling” the attacks.
“We will continue the war against terrorism until it is completely eradicated,” he said in a statement, accusing India of supporting the separatists.
Police officials in four districts previously told AFP that the attacks had not yet been fully brought under control.
In Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, an AFP journalist heard several explosions as heavy security was deployed across the city, with major roads deserted and businesses closed.
“There have been explosions one after another since morning,” Abdul Wali, 38, told AFP as he struggled to find blood for his hospitalized mother.
“The police point guns at us and say ‘go back’ or they will hit us. What should we do?”
A senior official in Quetta told AFP that militants had kidnapped a deputy district commissioner.
A senior government official in another district said militants “liberated at least 30 prisoners from a district jail, seizing firearms and ammunition. They also attacked a police station and took ammunition.”
Mobile phone services have been disrupted and traffic disrupted in affected districts, while train services have been suspended across the province.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active militant separatist group in the province, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement to AFP.
Suicide bombings
The group said it targeted military installations and police and civil administration officials with gun attacks and suicide bombings.
It says major highways have been blocked to disrupt military operations.
According to statements and videos released by the BLA, several women were involved in the attacks.
Saturday’s attacks came a day after the army said it had killed 41 insurgents in two separate operations in the province.
“Over the last 12 months, security forces in Balochistan have sent over 700 terrorists to hell, eliminating around 70 terrorists in the last two days alone,” said Sarfraz Bugti, the Chief Minister of Balochistan Province.
“These attacks cannot weaken our resolve against terrorism.”
Balochistan is Pakistan’s poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, and lags behind the rest of the country in education, employment and economic development.
Baloch separatists have in recent years intensified attacks on Pakistanis from other provinces working in the region, as well as on foreign energy companies they believe are exploiting its resources.
The separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board last year, leading to a two-day siege that left dozens of people dead.
In August 2024, militants blew up bridges, stormed hotels and targeted security installations in attacks across the province that left dozens dead.
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