Over 250 Killed in Coordinated Separatist Attacks Across Pakistan’s Balochistan

By Zainab Bakare

A senior security official on Wednesday says more than 250 people have been killed in coordinated attacks carried out by separatist militants across Pakistan’s Balochistan province since Saturday.

Fighting is ongoing in parts of the province as government forces continue counter-terrorism operations.

Pakistan has faced a long-running Baloch separatist insurgency, marked by frequent attacks on security forces, foreign nationals, and non-local Pakistanis.

The mineral-rich province borders Afghanistan and Iran and has remained one of the country’s most volatile regions.

A senior official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said 197 militants had been killed so far in ongoing operations.

He added that the coordinated attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 36 civilians and 22 members of the security forces.

Sporadic clashes were still reported in several districts after militants launched assaults on banks, jails, police stations, and military installations over the weekend.

However, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said on Sunday that security forces had cleared all affected districts.

“We are chasing them. We will not let them go so easily,” Bugti told a news conference in Quetta.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active separatist militant group in the province, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement sent to AFP.

The group, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, said it targeted military installations as well as police and civil administration officials through gun attacks and suicide bombings.

In recent years, the BLA has intensified attacks on Pakistanis from other provinces working in Balochistan, along with foreign energy companies operating in the region.

Last year, the group carried out an attack on a passenger train carrying 450 people, triggering a deadly two-day siege.

The United Nations on Tuesday condemned the latest violence, describing the attacks as “heinous and cowardly.”