Nearly 150 militants killed in 40-hour battle after deadly attacks in Pakistan

Nearly 150 militants have been killed in a 40-hour battle after separatist fighters launched a series of deadly attacks, the Pakistani government said.

Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province was rocked by a series of coordinated gun and bomb assaults on Saturday that left almost 50 people dead.

Attackers dressed as civilians targeted hospitals, schools, banks and markets, junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry said.

The army, police and counterterrorism units launched large-scale counter-operations after the militants unleashed almost simultaneous assaults across several districts.

Officials said armed men across Quetta, Gwadar, Mastung, and Noshki districts had opened fire on security installations, attempted suicide bombings, and briefly blocked roads in urban areas.

But 92 militants were killed on Saturday, and 41 more on Friday, according to the chief minister of Balochistan, Sarfraz Bugti, while the attackers had killed 17 police and 31 civilians.

"We had intelligence reports that this kind of operation was being planned, and as a result of those, we started pre-operations a day before," the minister said.

He said the latest tally, 145, represents the highest number of militants killed in such a short span since the insurgency intensified.

"The bodies of these 145 killed terrorists are in our custody, and some of them are Afghan nationals," he said.

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The aftermath of battle was evident in the provincial capital, Quetta, with burnt-out vehicles at a police station, bullet-riddled doors and streets sealed off with yellow tape.

A banned separatist group, Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the recent attacks, dubbing the flare-up Operation Herof, or "black storm".

The group, which is designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US, claims to have killed 84 members of the security forces and captured 18 others.

But the figure remains unverified and the Pakistani military has not commented.

Resource-rich Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province, but also its poorest, and has faced decades of separatist insurgency.

The separatists demand greater autonomy and a larger share of the province's natural resources.

Pakistan's defence minister, Khawaja Asif, accused the insurgents of increasingly targeting civilians, labourers, and low-income communities.

Mr Chaudhry, the junior interior minister, accused them of using civilians as human shields, adding: "In each case, the attackers came in dressed as civilians and indiscriminately targeted ordinary people working in shops."

The Pakistani government has accused the insurgents of being "Indian-sponsored", though India, Pakistan's arch-rival, claims these are "baseless allegations".

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