Balochi separatists kill 21, including civilians, in multiple attacks in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan — Separatists from Pakistan’s Balochistan province claim responsibility for nearly a dozen coordinated attacks across southern Pakistan early this morning that targeted civilians, a high-security prison, police stations and paramilitary installations.

Eleven civilians, 10 security personnel and 67 insurgents were killed, authorities say.

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 say 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 says, adding that the dead civilians were ethnic Baloch. Khan says police quickly responded to the attack and killed all the attackers.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi says in a statement that 10 security officers were killed.

The Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, claims responsibility for the attacks, during which some of the banks were also robbed. It releases videos showing female fighters taking part in the attacks, apparently part of a propaganda to highlight the role of women among the militants.

Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, says most of the attacks were foiled. They come a day after the military said security forces this week raided two militant hideouts in the country’s southwest, killing 41 insurgents in separate gunbattles.