Separatist group claims deadliest day in recent history in Pakistan’s Balochistan and threatens more

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A separatist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for the deadliest day in recent history in Pakistan’s Balochistan and warned that “even more intense and widespread” attacks were coming, while the prime minister declared there would not be peace talks with the insurgents who also have targeted Chinese-funded projects there.

The multiple attacks in southwestern Pakistan killed more than 50 people, mostly civilians. The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army group insisted it did not harm civilians and claimed that 800 of its well-trained fighters took part in the shootings and bombings that began late Sunday.

The attacks indicate that the BLA, which has targeted security forces for years in small-scale attacks and is allied with the Pakistani Taliban, is now much more organized.

But Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a Cabinet meeting there would be no peace talks with the group. And Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Quetta, Balochistan’s capital, there was no need for a large-scale operation, saying the insurgents can eliminated by police.

Provincial chief minister Sarfraz Bugti said 53 people, including security forces, were killed in the attacks that drew nationwide condemnation. On Monday, he said operations against the insurgents continued and that “those who killed our innocent civilians and security with be dealt with a full force.”

The prime minister said the attacks in Balochistan seek to harm Chinese-funded development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which includes roads and rail systems to link western China’s Xinjiang region to Pakistan’s southwestern Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea. In recent years, BLA and other militants have attacked Chinese nationals working on CPEC projects.

Some killed in the latest attacks were ordered off local transport and shot, a witness said.

Sakina Nazir said she was traveling in a bus with her husband when gunmen signaled the driver to halt. She said the gunmen entered their bus, checked passengers’ national identity cards and ordered some people out, including her husband. Minutes later, the survivors heard gunshots.

Balochistan has long been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks mainly on security forces. The separatists demand independence from the central government.

Also Tuesday, Pakistan’s army said its troops killed 25 militants in recent days in the country’s northwest. In a statement, it said four soldiers were also killed in the shootout in Khyber, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border.

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Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer contributed to this story from Multan, Pakistan.