DERA MURAD JAMALI / QUETTA: The situation in Balochistan remained tense on Tuesday, a day after militants launched coordinated attacks that left dozens dead in one of the worst waves of violence in the province’s history.
Security forces hunted the militants responsible for the deadly assaults, including pulling passengers off buses before killing them, blowing up a key railway bridge and storming a hotel.
At midnight between Sunday and Monday, militants took control of a highway and shot dead 23 people, mostly labourers from Punjab, and attacked the hotel and the railway bridge connecting Balochistan to the rest of the country.
The sites hit were cordoned off Tuesday as the search for assailants went on. “But no arrests have been made so far, and no additional militants have been killed,” provincial government spokesman Shahid Rind said.
Monday’s death toll includes 35 civilians and 14 members of the security forces, while the military said troops killed 21 militants.
As the province grapples with the aftermath, authorities on Tuesday discovered three more bullet-riddled bodies in Nasirabad district, while law enforcement agencies foiled an attempt to block the Quetta-Karachi National Highway in Khadkocha.
“All three individuals were killed by gunshots to the head and other parts of the body, leading to their deaths,” police said, quoting hospital officials.