Janice R. Andrews
Dozens of people were killed in a planned attack by militants in Pakistan’s Balochistan area. It was one of the deadliest attacks in recent years. The strikes on citizens and police officers are thought to have been planned by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist insurgent group.
At least 23 people were killed when militants ambushed and set fire to about 10 cars in the Musakhail district late Sunday night. Among them were truck drivers who were carrying coal. The attackers had no pity; they killed both passengers and drivers. Local officials say that the rebels not only damaged cars and buses, but they also went after goods trucks.
That was not the end of the fighting. Early on Monday morning, there was another attack in the Qalat area that killed four police officers and five residents. Along with these attacks, terrorists set off explosives on a railroad track in the Bolan district and struck a police station in the Mastung district, but no one was hurt. Also, cars were set on fire in the Gwadar area.
The number of deaths was confirmed by Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan regional government. He said that at least 39 people had died in the planned attacks by BLA terrorists. The BLA has been leading an uprising in the area for a long time and wants to be free from the central government. The group has not publicly claimed credit for the recent attacks, but it did say in a statement that it had caused security forces to lose a lot of lives.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s biggest province by land size. It has a lot of natural resources, like oil and minerals, but it is still one of the least developed parts of the country. It has borders with both Iran and Afghanistan, so it has been a hotspot for rebel groups and uprisings for a long time. People living in Balochistan are suffering a lot because of the ongoing war. They are very poor and can’t get to basic services easily.
After the killings, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi all said they were against the violence. They said the attack on Musakhail was “barbaric” and promised to catch the people who did it. In addition, Naqvi stated that 12 terrorists were killed by security forces. He said that “terrorists and their facilitators will have no place to hide” in the country.
Balochistan is still dealing with an insurgency, so the area is still on high watch. Security forces are working harder to stop the separatist movement and bring peace back to the troublesome province.
