Pakistan’s deadliest day in months sees over 60 dead in attacks

ISLAMABAD — Rebels launched coordinated bomb and gun attacks against security forces and civilians in south-western Pakistan, leaving at least 61 people dead, officials said on Monday, the country’s deadliest day in months.

At least 19 soldiers were among the dead, while the army said it had eliminated 21 rebels from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

The attacks overnight were launched in the volatile province of Balochistan, which borders both Afghanistan and Iran, the two neighbours from where Islamabad says Islamist and separatist rebels operate from.

Balochistan is where China is building a deep-sea port and a network of roads and railways under President Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to reach markets in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and beyond.

Much of the anger is directed against China as local militants and political groups accuse Beijing of exploiting their resources and land.

In the deadliest of attacks, militants from BLA offloaded at least 23 passengers from buses and killed them in execution-style shootings, Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said.

All of the dead were from the central province of Punjab, a frequent target of militants.

The military fought gun battles with militants at several places, pushing them back, but also loosing soldiers, the army said.

The militants also detonated a railway track in Bolan region and damaged a gas pipeline in Dera Bugti area.

Balochistan, the largest of Pakistan’s four provinces, faces multiple fronts of violence at the hands of Islamist militants, sectarian groups and nationalist rebels.

The attacks were the deadliest in Pakistan in several months amid a surge in violence by the Taliban and the nationalist rebels.