Gunmen killed at least 31 people in two separate attacks in southwestern Pakistan on Monday, while other shootings and unrest were reported in the same province, police and officials said.
Twenty-three people were shot dead after being identified and taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district of Baluchistan province, senior police officer Ayub Achakzai said. The attackers burnt at least 10 vehicles before fleeing.
“The gunmen not only killed the passengers but also the drivers of the trucks carrying coal,” said Hameed Zahir, a deputy commissioner in the area.
In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four policemen and five bystanders, in the Qalat district, also in Baluchistan, officials said.
The insurgents blew up a railway track in Bolan, attacked a police station in Mastung and attacked and burnt vehicles in Gwadar, all districts of Balochistan. No casualties were reported in these attacks.
Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency in Pakistan, with various separatist groups carrying out attacks, mainly against security forces. The separatists have been demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistani authorities claim to have quelled the insurgency, violence in Balochistan has continued.
The attack in Musakhail came hours after the outlawed separatist group Balochistan Liberation Army warned people to stay off roads as they launched attacks on security forces in several parts of the province. However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest killings.
Separatists often ask people for their identity cards and then kidnap or kill those who are not from the province. Many of the recent victims are from the neighbouring province of Punjab.
Uzma Bukhari, spokesperson for the Punjab provincial government, denounced the latest killings on Monday, saying the “attacks are a cause of grave concern” and urged the Balochistan provincial government to “intensify efforts to eliminate BLA terrorists.”
Baluchistan authorities said they responded to the latest attacks on Monday and would provide details of their operations later in the day. Local media said at least 12 insurgents were killed by security forces in various parts of the province in the past 24 hours.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in separate statements, called the Musakhail attack “barbaric” and vowed that those behind it would not escape justice.
Naqvi later also condemned the killings in Qalat.
In May, gunmen shot dead seven barbers in Gwadar, a port city in Balochistan.
In April, separatists killed nine people after kidnapping them from a bus on a highway in Baluchistan, and attackers also killed two people and wounded six in another vehicle that they forced to stop. The BLA claimed responsibility for those attacks at the time.
Syed Muhammad Ali, a security analyst based in Islamabad, said the latest killings of non-Baluchis were an attempt by separatists to economically damage the province.
Ali told The Associated Press that most of these attacks are carried out with the aim of weakening Balochistan economically, noting that “weakening of Balochistan means weakening of Pakistan.”
He said insurgent attacks could hamper development work being carried out in the province.
Baluchistan separatists have frequently killed workers and others from the eastern Punjab region as part of a campaign to force them out of the province, which has experienced a low-level insurgency for years.
Most of the previous killings have been blamed on the outlawed group and others demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Islamist militants also have a presence in the province.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office condemned the attacks in a statement, vowing that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice.
Baluchistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistan’s largest province but the least populated, and remains highly underdeveloped, with high levels of poverty.
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