The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for at least one attack, but has been responsible for similar incidents in the past.
More than 70 people have been killed in four attacks in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, military and police officials said, amid multiple reports of violence.
The military said 14 soldiers and police and 21 militants were killed in fighting following the largest attack on a vehicle on a main road in Bela, a town in Lasbela district.
In another attack in Musakhel district, local authorities said at least 23 civilians were killed and 35 vehicles were set ablaze by attackers they believed were from Punjab.
Also in Qal’at, a police station and a highway were attacked, reportedly killing 10 people, including five police officers and five civilians.
The same day, there was an explosion on a railway bridge in the town of Bolan, which connects the provincial capital Quetta with other parts of Pakistan, and on the railway line to neighbouring Iran, causing rail services to Quetta to be suspended, railway official Muhammad Kashif said.
Police said they found six unidentified bodies near the scene of the attack on a railway bridge.
Balochistan has been plagued by a years-long insurgency and is home to several militant groups. Human rights groups have criticized Pakistan’s response to the insurgency, documenting enforced disappearances and other state repression.
The attack, along the highway leading to Punjab, came shortly after the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) warned people to stay away from the province’s highways.
The group said in a statement that its fighters targeted the military personnel, who were travelling in civilian clothes, shooting them dead as soon as they were identified.
But Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said the dead were innocent citizens.
“Vehicles entering and leaving Punjab were checked and those from Punjab were identified and shot dead,” Najibullah Kakar, a senior Musakhair official, told AFP.
The injured were taken to the nearest major medical facility, Dera Ghazi Khan Hospital.
In separate statements, President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attack on Musahail “barbaric” and vowed that the attackers would not get away with it.
Punjab government spokeswoman Uzma Bukhari condemned the attack as a “matter of grave concern” and called on the Balochistan government to “intensify efforts to eliminate BLA terrorists.”
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti also promised to bring the attackers to justice.
According to local media, 12 rebel fighters have been killed by security forces across the province in the past 24 hours.
The BLA has claimed similar attacks in the past in Balochistan, including the killing of seven barbers in Gwadar in May and the murder of several others after they were kidnapped from a highway in April.
Militant groups like the BLA in the resource-rich but impoverished state have separatist ambitions and often target Punjabi workers who come to the region for work.
