Armed attackers killed at least 40 people in separate attacks in neighboring Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province on Monday. In the first incident, gunmen shot dead at least 23 people from Punjab province in Balochistan’s Musakhel district after making the passengers get off the buses and checking their identity cards. Apart from this incident, 11 people were killed in Kalat district, including 5 policemen, while 6 bodies were recovered from another district. A total of 14 security personnel were also killed in these attacks.
According to Musakhel’s Assistant Commissioner Najeeb Kakar, about 10 armed attackers blocked the inter-provincial highway in the district’s Rarasim area and forced passengers off several buses. “According to reports, the dead are from Punjab province,” he said. According to Kakar, the attackers also set some vehicles on fire. Musakhel is located about 450 km north-east of Balochistan’s capital Quetta.
Baloch separatist BLA regularly targets people from Punjab province and alleges that Punjabis dominate the armed forces fighting militants in the province. In the past 24 hours, BLA has attacked police stations, security forces camps and several government installations across the region. Senior Superintendent of Police Ayub Khoso said, “The passengers were asked to get off the buses and after checking their national identity cards, they were shot dead.” According to him, “Most of the dead are from southern Punjab and some from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which shows that they were killed because of their ethnic background.”
In another attack, at least 11 people, including four police officers, were killed by gunmen in Balochistan’s Kalat district, authorities said. Kalat is located about 150 km south of the capital Quetta and the Baloch tribes dominate the area. Security sources told Geo News that militants attacked several places in Balochistan on the night of August 24 and August 25.
The banned militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Both the attacks have taken place during the 18th anniversary of Baloch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. Khan was killed in a Pakistani army operation. The militant groups have named their violence ‘Operation Haruf’ and have simultaneously launched a series of attacks in various districts of the province. The attack in Kalat comes at a time when militants stopped buses and trucks in the Rarashim area of ​​Musakhel district on Monday, made 23 passengers disembark and shot them after identifying them as passengers from Punjab.
Kalat Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dostain Dashti said over the phone, “The militants carried out the attack in the morning and then fled to the nearby mountains.” He said that security forces have launched a massive search operation and are looking for the attackers. Security sources have confirmed that militants of the separatist group attacked Musakhel and Kalat as well as some other areas of the province on Sunday-Monday night, but security forces retaliated and foiled their plans.
39 Punjabis killed in Pakistan, now 12 Baloch militants killed in retaliatory action
A source said, “Alert security forces have chased the attackers in some areas and 12 terrorists have already been killed.” Radio Pakistan reported that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif have strongly condemned the attack. Expressing grief over the death of people in the attacks, they prayed for the peace of the departed souls and expressed condolences to the bereaved families.
Zardari said the brutal killing of innocent people was an affront to entire humanity and called for bringing the culprits to book. The prime minister directed the local administration to extend full cooperation to the bereaved families and provide medical aid to the injured. He also directed law enforcement agencies to immediately investigate the incident. Shahbaz Sharif said, “The terrorists responsible for this incident will be severely punished.” He said any form of terrorism was unacceptable in the country.
Both the President and the Prime Minister expressed Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to eradicate the menace of terrorism. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has strongly condemned this act of terrorism. He also expressed condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this cowardly act of terrorism. Bugti said that terrorists and their supporters will not be able to escape. He said that the Balochistan government will catch the terrorists.
In another terror attack, a railway bridge was bombed in Dojan area of ​​Bolan, police said. Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province but is the least developed despite having more resources than other provinces. The BLA and other Baloch separatists have stepped up attacks on people from Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh provinces working in the region. About four months before the attack in Musakhel, a similar attack was carried out targeting people from Punjab. In April, nine passengers were deboarded from a bus near Noshki and gunmen killed them after checking their identity cards.
In October last year, unidentified gunmen shot dead six workers from Punjab in Turbat, Kech district in Balochistan. A similar incident also took place in 2015 when gunmen attacked a labour camp near Turbat and killed 20 people. According to the Pakistan Institute of Conflict and Security Studies, there were 170 terrorist attacks in Balochistan last year in which 151 civilians and 114 security personnel were killed.