KARACHI (Reuters) – Pakistan’s military has killed 24 militants in three days in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, the military said in a statement on Friday, less than a week before national elections.
Four law enforcement personnel and two civilians have also been killed, the statement said.
Militant violence in Pakistan’s border areas has put authorities on alert ahead of next Thursday’s polls.
Militants, including suicide bombers, attacked Mach and Kolpur complexes in Balochistan, the military’s Inter Services Public Relations agency (ISPR) said on Tuesday.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group aims to achieve independence for mountainous and mineral-rich Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by territory but the smallest in terms of population, which has seen a decades-long insurgency.
Balochistan borders Afghanistan to the north, Iran to the west and has a long coastline on the Arabian Sea. It has Pakistan’s largest natural gas field and is believed to hold many more undiscovered reserves.
It is also rich in precious metals including gold, the production of which has grown over recent years.
Balochistan is a key location in China’s huge multi-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of President Xi Jinping’s massive Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid; Writing by Shivam Patel; Editing by YP Rajesh and Nick Macfie)
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