Pakistani officials say at least 37 people have been killed in several apparently coordinated attacks in the southwestern Balochistan Province, where security forces have long struggled against sectarian, separatist, and ethnic violence.
Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan provincial government, told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal on August 26 that “terrorists” had killed people in three separate attacks in the province. In addition to civilians, several soldiers, law enforcement officers, and militants were killed, officials said.
In the deadliest attack, dozens of gunmen killed 23 passengers traveling on a bus in the Musakhail district. Officials said the armed group blocked the road, forced passengers off the bus and fatally shot the victims -- all men -- after checking their identification documents. They set several vehicles on fire before fleeing the scene.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which has been designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, claimed in a statement sent to the AFP news agency that it had launched an operation "on highways across Balochistan," insisting that it had only targeted security personnel.
The Pakistani authorities have not explicitly accused a specific group of carrying out the attack.
Rind told Radio Mashaal that casualties included both civilians and security personnel, but did not provide the overall number of deaths.
However, the Public Relations Department of the Pakistani Army said in a statement on August 26 that 10 soldiers and four law enforcement officers were killed.
The army also claimed that it killed a total of 21 militants, but this number has not been independently confirmed.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the “terrorist attack” and vowed that the perpetrators would be found and punished.
Eight people were killed in another attack in the Kalat district and six others were shot dead in the Bolan district, Rind said.
SEE ALSO: What's Behind The Deadly Surge Of Violence In Pakistan's Balochistan?Balochistan is a vast and resource-rich province but remains woefully underdeveloped and impoverished.
The BLA is the largest armed group operating in the province and it is allied with the Baloch Liberation Front, another major Baluch separatist group in the province.
Balochistan has been rocked by a slew of militant attacks since the start of the year, with first three months seeing 62 attacks. In 2023, Baluch militants carried out 110 attacks, according to the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.