Reuters quoted four Pakistani security officials as saying that the militants launched attacks in several urban areas, including the provincial capital, Quetta, and the coastal city of Gwadar.
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the coordinated attacks in a statement and praised the security forces for repelling them, saying that the forces killed dozens of militants.
The internationally banned separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating that they were launched simultaneously across the province. The group claimed that its members killed 84 security personnel.
The attacks came a day after the Pakistani military announced it had killed 41 militants in separate raids in Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and has been battling a separatist insurgency for decades.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people have fled a remote mountainous region in northwest Pakistan in recent weeks after mosques broadcast warnings urging families to evacuate ahead of a possible military operation against militants, according to Reuters.
But Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif denied on Tuesday that any operation was planned or underway in Tirah, describing the exodus as a “routine seasonal movement driven by harsh winter weather.”
