At least 33 people were killed in southwestern Pakistan in a string of terrorist attacks that targeted police officers, residents and passengers, officials said on Monday.
The terrorists launched attacks in at least three different regions and targeted railway tracks, a gas pipeline and a police station, said Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the provincial government.
At least 23 people were killed in the early morning after armed men forced passengers off trucks and buses, checked their identities and killed those from the province of Punjab.
The passengers were killed in the district of Musakhail, where armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway and set fire to vehicles.
Senior Superintendent of Police Ayub Khoso said: “The passengers were told to get down from buses and shot dead after being identified from their national ID cards,” Khoso said.
“Most of those killed belonged to southern Punjab and some are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suggesting they were killed because of their ethnic background,” he added.
The militants also detonated a railway track in the Bolan region and damaged a gas pipeline in the Dera Bugti area. A banned group of separatist insurgents, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Balochistan -Pakistan’s largest but most volatile province faces multiple fronts of violence at the hands of Islamist militants, sectarian groups and nationalist rebels.
Rebel attacks on workers from other provinces, especially those working on projects initiated by China under a $62 billion investment plan, are common.
Many people from Punjab and other parts of the country have moved to Balochistan to seek employment in projects run by Chinese companies.
