PAKISTAN, Jan 31: Ethnic Baloch separatists launched "coordinated" attacks across Pakistan's Balochistan province on Saturday, killing at least four policemen, officials said, the latest violence in insurgency-hit southwest region.
Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, where militants target state forces, foreign nationals and non-locals in the mineral-rich southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
"The coordinated gun and suicide attacks are being carried out across Balochistan, mainly in Quetta, Pasni, Mastung, Nushki and Gwadar districts," a senior security official based in the provincial capital of Quetta told AFP.
"At least four policemen were killed in Quetta alone," he added, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Trouble in the neighborhood
A senior military official based in Islamabad confirmed the attacks, adding they were "coordinated but poorly executed".
The attacks "failed due to poor planning and rapid collapse under effective security response," the official added, without commenting on the death toll.
At least four police officials in as many districts confirmed to AFP the situation was not completely under control yet.
Mobile phone services have been jammed and traffic disrupted in the affected districts while train services have been suspended across the province.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active militant separatist group in the province, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement sent to AFP.
The group claimed to target military installations and police and civil administration officials during gun attacks and suicide bombings.
Saturday's attacks come a day after the military said it had killed 41 insurgents in two separate operations in the province.
Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, and lags behind the rest of the country in education, employment and economic development.
Baloch separatists have intensified attacks on Pakistanis from neighbouring provinces working in the region in recent years, as well as foreign energy firms they believe are exploiting the province's riches.
Last year, ethnic Baloch separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board, sparking a two-day siege during which dozens of people were killed.
