‘Barbaric’ attacks in Pakistan by Balochistan separatists target motorways, railways and police stations

At least 50 people have been killed in the attacks and retaliatory operations by security forces.

Burnt vehicles, torched by gunmen in Musakhail. Pic: AP

At least 51 people – including 12 attackers – have been killed in southwest Pakistan after separatist militants targeted police stations, railway lines and motorways.

Vehicles, including buses and delivery trucks, were targeted on a major road in Musakhail, a district in Balochistan, killing at least 23 people, officials said, in the worst of the attacks.

Passengers were marched off vehicles and shot after attackers checked their identity cards, Ayub Achakzai, a senior police superintendent, told the Reuters news agency.

The attackers then set 35 vehicles on fire before fleeing the scene.

In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least 10 people, including six security personnel and four civilians after storming a police station, officials said.

Police said a further six bodies were found after a railway bridge linking Quetta – the provincial capital – to the rest of the country and a railway line between Pakistan and Iran were hit with explosives during the attacks, railway official Muhammad Kashif said.

The number of dead includes those killed and the 12 alleged attackers who were killed by security forces, home secretary Mohsin Naqvi, said.

He said: “These attacks are a well thought out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan.”

Meanwhile, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari called the attack in Musakhail “barbaric” and vowed that those who were behind it would not escape justice.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/barbaric-attacks-in-pakistan-by-balochistan-separatists-target-motorways-railways-and-police-stations-13203654

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