More than 120 people were killed on Saturday following multiple suicide bombings and gun attacks across Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan, in what analysts described as one of the deadliest single days for militants in decades.
Pakistan’s military said the coordinated assaults left 33 people dead, including 18 civilians and 15 security personnel, while security forces killed 92 attackers during counter-operations.
The attacks targeted civilians, police stations, paramilitary facilities and a high-security prison, officials said.
Authorities added that the violence was part of a wider escalation, with at least 133 militants reportedly killed across Balochistan over the past 48 hours.
Provincial Health Minister Bakht Muhammad Kakar said the attacks began almost simultaneously across different parts of the province, prompting the government to declare an emergency in hospitals.
In Quetta, the provincial capital, two police officers were killed when a police vehicle came under grenade attack, officials said.
In Mastung district, dozens of insurgents reportedly attacked a prison, freeing more than 30 inmates. Police also said militants attempted to storm the provincial headquarters of paramilitary forces in Nushki district, but the assault was repelled.
Local authorities said attackers also hurled grenades at the office of a government administrator in Dalbandin, but security forces responded quickly, forcing the assailants to flee.
Further attacks on security posts in Balincha, Tump and Kharan districts were foiled, while in Pasni and Gwadar, police said militants attempted to abduct passengers travelling on highways.
Officials also confirmed that rail tracks were destroyed in parts of the province, forcing Pakistan Railways to suspend train services between Balochistan and other regions of the country.
The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the suicide and gun attacks. Officials said some banks were robbed during the violence, while a police station and dozens of vehicles were set on fire.
The group also released videos showing female fighters taking part in the attacks, which analysts described as a propaganda effort to highlight the role of women among militants.
The BLA is banned in Pakistan and is designated a terrorist organisation by the United States.
Pakistan’s military and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi accused India of backing the attackers. There was no immediate response from New Delhi, which has repeatedly denied similar allegations in the past.
Pakistan has also accused separatist groups, the Pakistani Taliban and other militants of using Afghan territory to launch attacks into the country, a claim Afghanistan’s Taliban government has rejected.
Security analysts said attacks of this scale are uncommon, even in Balochistan, where separatist groups and the Pakistani Taliban frequently target security forces.
Abdullah Khan, managing director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, said militants linked to the BLA and other groups had not previously been killed in such large numbers in a single day in the province.
Balochistan has faced a long-running insurgency by separatist groups seeking independence from Pakistan’s central government, and violence has intensified in recent months amid renewed militant activity.
