53 killed as string of attacks rock Pakistan’s Balochistan province

Islamabad | At least 53 people, including security personnel, were killed and scores of others injured in a series of attacks in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province on Monday, officials said.

The proscribed organization Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed responsibility for the offensive, launched attacks shortly before midnight, continuing their assault into the morning with gunfire, grenades, suicide bombings, and bomb attacks.

The major attack was launched in Musa Khel district in which 23 passengers were killed at close range, Assistant Commissioner of the area Najeeb Kakar told Xinhua news agency.

He said that the terrorists blocked the highway connecting Balochistan with the east Punjab province in Musa Khel district, stopping several vehicles and checking the identities of the passengers.

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"The 23 victims, all from Punjab and travelling to Balochistan for work, were forcibly removed from their vehicles, lined up near the highway, and shot dead. The militants also damaged 24 vehicles during the blockade," he added.

In a separate attack in Las Bela district, about five troops were killed when terrorists rammed their explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of an army camp, police sources said.

Eight members of a soldier's family residing inside the camp were also killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up near it.

In a separate incident, 10 people, including five security personnel, were killed when terrorists stormed a toll plaza, a hospital and the house of a tribal elder in Kalat district of Balochistan province, police sources confirmed to Xinhua.

Separately, insurgents blew up a railway track in the Bolan area of the province, leaving at least six people dead, Dost Muhammad Bugti, a senior police official in the area said.

Tensions were also high in Mastung district, where terrorists briefly took control of a paramilitary check post. The troops later regained control, but one civilian was killed in the exchange of gunfire, official sources said.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military wing of the country's army said that they killed 21 terrorists by taking prompt action to thwart the attacks successfully.

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The Pakistan army claimed that 14 security personnel, including 10 security forces soldiers and four personnel of law enforcement agencies, were killed during the counter-terrorism operations.

The railway track was destroyed in the explosion, which resulted in the suspension of train service between Balochistan and eastern Punjab province.

Gwadar district also came under attack by the terrorists who torched a police station.

"A large number of armed men were seen searching vehicles along the coastal highway and firing at trucks carrying minerals," the sources said.

After the night-long militancy, the situation in most of the areas is under control while tension prevails in some, the sources added.

Taking notice of the terror incidents, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attacks, directing an immediate probe to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.

"The nation stood by the security forces in the war against terrorism...Terrorists' nefarious designs to spoil the country's peace would never succeed," the Pakistan PM said.

IANS

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