Gunmen kill at least 31 people in two separate attacks in Pakistan's troubled southwest

Insurgents blew up a railway track in Bolan, attacked a police station in Mastung and attacked and burnt vehicles in Gwadar. All these attacks took place in Balochistan. No casualties were reported in these attacks.

Balochistan has long been the scene of an insurgency in Pakistan, in which a number of separatist groups have carried out attacks, particularly against security forces. The separatists demand independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although the Pakistani authorities claim to have crushed the insurgency, violence in Balochistan continues.

The attack in Musakhail came hours after the banned separatist group Baluch Liberation Army warned people to stay away from highways as it launched attacks on security forces in different parts of the province, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest killings.

Separatists often ask people for their identification and then kidnap or kill those who are not from the province. Many of the recent victims came from the neighboring province of Punjab.

Uzma Bukhari, a spokeswoman for the Punjab provincial government, condemned the latest killings on Monday, saying the “attacks are a matter of grave concern” and urged the Balochistan provincial government to “intensify its efforts to eliminate the BLA terrorists.”

Authorities in Balochistan said they responded to the latest attacks on Monday and would provide details of their operations later in the day. Local media reported that at least 12 insurgents were killed by security forces in different parts of the province in the past 24 hours.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi described the Musakhail attack as “barbaric” in separate statements and vowed that those behind it would not escape justice.

Naqvi later also condemned the killings in Qalat

In May, gunmen shot dead seven barbers in Gwadar, a port city in Balochistan.

In April, separatists killed nine people after abducting them from a bus on a highway in Balochistan. In another car, which they were forced to stop, the attackers killed two people and wounded six. The BLA claimed responsibility for the attacks at the time.

Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said the recent killings of non-Balochs were an attempt by separatists to harm the province economically.

Ali told the Associated Press that most of these attacks were carried out with the aim of weakening Balochistan economically, adding: “Weakening Balochistan means weakening Pakistan.”

He said insurgent attacks could hamper development work in the province.

Separatists in Balochistan have frequently killed workers and others from the country's eastern Punjab region in a campaign to force people to leave the province, which has been ravaged by a minor insurgency for years.

Most of these earlier killings were attributed to the banned group and others demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Militant Islamists are also present in the province.

___

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.