Separatists in Pakistan’s Balochistan province carried out nearly a dozen coordinated assaults early Saturday, killing at least 11 civilians, 10 security personnel and dozens of insurgents dead, authorities said.
Though Baloch separatists and the Pakistani Taliban frequently target security forces in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country, coordinated attacks on this scale are rare. Authorities said at least 108 militants have been killed across Balochistan over the past 48 hours, including 67 on Saturday.
The dead included 11 civilians, among them three women and three children, in the city of Gwadar in Balochistan, police official Ibad Khan said. He said the dead civilians were ethnic Baloch. Khan said police quickly responded to the attack and killed all the attackers.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that 10 security officers were killed.
The Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, claimed responsibility the attacks, during which some of the banks were also robbed. It released videos showing female fighters taking part in the attacks, apparently part of a propaganda to highlight the role of women among the militants.
