More than 70 people were killed in a wave of terror attacks that swept the southwestern Pakistan province of Balochistan, media reported, quoting military and police sources.
The military claimed 14 soldiers and police and 21 terrorists were killed in a major assault that targeted vehicles moving along a highway in the town of Bela in the Lasbela district, Al Jazeera reported.
In another attack in the Musakhel district, local officials claimed at least 23 civilians were killed. The militants reportedly detained their convoy and checked the IDs of the passengers, targeting only those belonging to Punjab. Besides target killings, 35 vehicles were burnt to ashes.
In Kalat, at least ten people, including five policemen and five civilians, were killed in an attack targeting a police post and a highway.
On Monday, it was learned that rail traffic to Quetta had been suspended following explosions that damaged a rail bridge in Bolan-a town which connects the provincial capital with the rest of Pakistan-and a rail link to neighboring Iran, railways official Muhammad Kashif said.
Police recovered so far six unidentified bodies near the site of the railway bridge attack.
For years, Balochistan has been the centre of a smoldering insurgency pitted against several armed groups in the region.
Human rights groups have criticized how the Government of Pakistan has handled the insurgency, pointing out enforced disappearances and other forms of state repression.
These attacks, taking place along the highway that leads from Punjab, follow a warning from the Balochistan Liberation Army that warned people to avoid the highways in the province.
The group later claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying their fighters had targeted military personnel who were in civilian clothes and shot them upon identification. Pakistan's Interior Ministry maintained, however, that those killed were innocent civilians.
The injured were shifted to Dera Ghazi Khan, which has the nearest major hospital.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the Musakhel attack separately as "barbaric" while assuring that the culprits would be brought to justice.
Uzma Bukhari, spokesperson for the Punjab provincial government, expressed grave concern about the attacks and urged the Balochistan provincial government to accelerate efforts to eliminate BLA terrorists.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has also issued a similar assurance that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
Local media reported that security forces have killed 12 rebel fighters in various parts of the province in the past 24 hours.
The BLA had claimed responsibility for several similar attacks in Balochistan in the recent past, including the killing of seven barbers in Gwadar in May and the abduction and subsequent killing of several persons travelling on a highway in April.
Militant outfits like the BLA often attack the laborers from Punjab who come for work in this resource-rich but poor province, driven by their secessionist ambitions.
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