Separatist attacks in Pakistan kill 33

ISLAMABAD

Separatists launched "coordinated" attacks across Pakistan's Balochistan province on Jan. 31, killing at least 15 security personnel and 18 civilians, the military said, the latest violence in the insurgency-hit southwestern region.

Officials said 92 militants including "three suicide bombers" were also killed.

Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, with frequent attacks on security forces, foreign nationals and non-locals in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

The military's media wing said in a statement that attacks had taken place in multiple locations including the provincial capital Quetta and Gwadar.

"Eighteen innocent civilians" and 15 security personnel were killed, the military's media wing (ISPR) said in a statement, putting the death toll among the militants at 92.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths of the civilians were not immediately clear.

Baloch separatists have previously targeted civilians believed to have collaborated with state agencies.

A senior military official in Islamabad said the attacks were "coordinated but poorly executed", adding that they had "failed due to poor planning and rapid collapse under effective security response."

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised security forces for "foiling" the attacks.

"We will continue the war against terrorism until its complete eradication," he said in a statement, in which he accused India of backing the separatists.