At least eight people have been killed in multiple attacks in southwestern Pakistan, police said Thursday, with assailants targeting bus passengers based on their ethnicity and security forces.
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.
"Terrorists have targeted passenger buses and security officials in multiple districts of Balochistan, killing at least five non-local passengers and a security official," a senior provincial police official told AFP early Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The incident took place in the coastal town of Pasni in Gwadar district -- home to massive Chinese infrastructures projects attracting workers from all of Pakistan's provinces.
"Dozens of militants" have "stopped passenger buses and identified non-local travellers", the official added.
They carried out the overnight attacks in several districts after taking control of major highways and setting up posts to search vehicles, the official said.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement the attacks were "a cowardly act" and "a crime against humanity".
"Targeting travellers by identifying them is barbaric and brutal", he added.
- Market attack -
On Thursday afternoon, an improvised explosive device planted on a motorcycle detonated near a police vehicle in a busy market in provincial capital Quetta.
"Two civilians were killed and 17 people wounded", Muhammad Baloch, a senior police official, told AFP.
Wasim Baig, spokesman for the Sandeman Provincial Hospital in Quetta, confirmed the death toll.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings in Balochistan, where separatists have increased their attacks on security forces and non-locals in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, ethnic Baloch separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board, sparking a two-day siege during which dozens of people were killed.
Days later, at least five paramilitaries were killed in a suicide bombing.
Both assaults were claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army.
The group also launched coordinated attacks last year that included taking control of a major highway and shooting dead travellers from other ethnic groups, stunning the country.
The militants have additionally targeted energy projects with foreign financing -- most notably from China -- accusing outsiders of exploiting the resource-rich region while excluding residents in the poorest part of Pakistan.
Last year was the deadliest year in a decade in Pakistan, following a trend of rising militancy since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021.
