Gunmen kills 31 in two separate attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, rail tracks also blown up

Gunmen killed 31 people in two separate attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on August 26, according to an AP report. 

Twenty-three people were shot after being identified and taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan province. The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing, the report added. 

In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passersby, in Qalat district also in Baluchistan. 

Militant group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has taken responsibility of the killings in a statement emailed to journalists, Reuters reported. They have also warned of many more attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base, it added. 

In another incident, insurgents blew up a railway track in Bolan, attacked a police station in Mastung and attacked and burned vehicles in Gwadar, both districts in Baluchistan. However, no casualties were reported in those attacks. 

A rail line between Pakistan and Iran and a railway bridge linking Quetta, the provincial capital, to the rest of the country were also hit with explosives in militant attacks, railways official Muhammad Kashif told Reuters.

Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson for the Punjab provincial government, denounced the killings and said the “attacks are a matter of grave concern” and urged the Baluchistan provincial government to “step up efforts to eliminate BLA terrorists.” 

The latest attacks were condemned by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “Any kind of terrorism is not acceptable in the country,” Sharif said. The Prime Minister instructed the local administration to fully support the bereaved families and provide immediate medical assistance to the injured. 

The resource-rich Balochistan province is home to a number of major China-led projects, including a strategic port and a gold and copper mine.