Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan carried out a deadly series of attacks on Monday, leaving at least 31 people dead across multiple locations, as violence and unrest escalated in the volatile Baluchistan province, according to police and local officials.
In the most devastating attack, 23 people were shot dead after being forcibly removed from buses, trucks, and other vehicles in the Musakhail district of Baluchistan, senior police officer Ayub Achakzai reported. The assailants set at least 10 vehicles ablaze before fleeing the scene.
In a separate incident in the Qalat district, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five civilians, according to authorities.
The violence continued across the province, with insurgents blowing up a railway track in Bolan, attacking a police station in Mastung, and setting vehicles on fire in Gwadar. Fortunately, no casualties were reported in these additional attacks.
Baluchistan has long been a hotspot for insurgency in Pakistan, where various separatist groups have been waging a campaign primarily targeting security forces. These groups seek independence from the central government in Islamabad. While Pakistani officials claim to have brought the insurgency under control, the persistent violence in the region suggests otherwise.
The Musakhail attack occurred just hours after the banned Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group issued a warning, urging people to avoid highways as they launched operations against security forces across the province. Despite this warning, there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest killings.
The BLA and other separatist groups have a history of targeting non-Baluch individuals, often demanding identification before abducting or killing those from outside the province, particularly those from Punjab.
Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson for the Punjab provincial government, condemned the attacks, describing them as a “matter of grave concern” and called on the Baluchistan government to intensify efforts to combat BLA militants.
In response to Monday’s attacks, Baluchistan authorities stated they were taking action and promised to release further details about their operations later in the day. Local media reported that security forces had killed at least 12 insurgents in various parts of the province within the past 24 hours.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi issued separate statements condemning the Musakhail attack as “barbaric” and vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. Naqvi later also condemned the killings in Qalat.
Earlier this year, Baluchistan witnessed several similar incidents of violence. In May, gunmen killed seven barbers in the port city of Gwadar, and in April, separatists killed nine people after abducting them from a bus on a highway, followed by an attack on another vehicle that left two dead and six wounded. The BLA had claimed responsibility for the April attacks.
Syed Muhammad Ali, a security analyst based in Islamabad, remarked that the recent killings of non-Baluch residents were likely aimed at undermining the province’s economic stability. Ali noted that such attacks could hinder ongoing development projects in the region, as weakening Baluchistan could have broader implications for Pakistan’s overall stability.
For years, separatists in Baluchistan have targeted workers and others from Punjab as part of their broader strategy to force outsiders to leave the province, which has been plagued by a low-intensity insurgency for decades.
