At least 33 dead in coordinated attacks by alleged separatists in Pakistan

At least 15 security officials and 18 civilians have been killed as armed men launched coordinated attacks across Pakistan’s Balochistan province, officials said, in the latest incident in the violence-hit southwest region.

Several police stations in the provincial capital of Quetta were targeted by alleged ethnic Baloch gunmen in an attack that began at about 3am local time on Saturday (22:00 GMT on Friday).

Pakistan has been battling a separatist movement in Balochistan for decades, where rebels target state forces, foreign nationals and non-locals in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attacks, according to a report by the AFP news agency. The group claimed to target military installations and police and civil administration officials in gun attacks and suicide bombings across nine districts of Balochistan. Pakistan’s largest but least-populated province.

Police officials in four districts told AFP that the attacks were not yet completely under control.

A senior official in Quetta told AFP that the group had abducted a deputy district commissioner.

A senior government official in another district said the group had “freed at least 30 inmates from a district jail, seizing firearms and ammunition. They also attacked a police station and took ammunition with them”.

An unnamed security official quoted by the AFP said it was a coordinated attack, which hit “more than 12 locations”. At least 92 BLA fighters were also killed, taking the toll to 133 fighters killed in the last 48 hours.

Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, said most of the BLA attacks were foiled.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths of the civilians were not immediately clear. Baloch separatists have previously targeted civilians believed to have collaborated with state agencies.

A senior military official in Islamabad said the attacks were “coordinated but poorly executed”, adding that they had “failed due to poor planning and rapid collapse under effective security response”.

Federal Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that the attacks were carried out by “Fitna al-Hindustan”, a phrase the government uses for the BLA, which he alleged is backed by the neighbouring archenemy, India.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the security forces for “foiling” the attacks, and accused India of backing the separatists. “We will continue the war against terrorism until its complete eradication,” he said in a statement.

New Delhi has not yet responded to the allegations.

Several members of the Pakistani security forces were reported to have been abducted during the attacks. Internet and train services have been suspended, while a security operation is under way.

Mobile phone services have also been jammed and traffic disrupted in the affected districts.

The attacks came a day after the military said it had killed 41 armed fighters in two separate operations in Balochistan.

“Over the past 12 months, security forces in Balochistan have sent more than 700 terrorists to hell, with around 70 terrorists eliminated in just the last two days alone,” said Sarfraz Bugti, Balochistan’s chief minister. “These attacks cannot weaken our resolve against terrorism.”

Balochistan has long been the site of a rebellion by separatist groups seeking independence from Pakistan’s central government in Islamabad. The province is the country’s poorest, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources.

Baloch separatist groups and the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, have intensified attacks in Pakistan in recent months. The TTP, while being a separate group, is believed to be allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in August 2021.

Last year, ethnic Baloch separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board, prompting a two-day siege during which dozens of people were killed.

In August 2024, the rebels blew up bridges, stormed hotels and targeted security installations in assaults across the province that left dozens dead.