Pakistan military launches strikes in response to Balochistan attacks, army says

Pakistan’s military has launched intelligence-based operations in the southwestern Balochistan province in response to attacks by insurgents that killed over 50 people this week, the army said on Friday.

In a statement, the army said five insurgents were killed and three others wounded in the three operations it had launched in the province. “Operations will continue until all perpetrators, facilitators and abetters of these atrocious acts are brought to justice,” the statement said. Ethnic Baloch insurgents earlier this week hit several civil and military targets in a coordinated string of attacks.

The army said it retaliated, killing 21 militants. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for one of its deadliest attacks in recent years as it seeks to win secession of the resource-rich province, home to major China-led projects such as a deep-water port and a gold and copper mine.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said the attacks were aimed at hurting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an over $65 billion scheme to develop road, rail and port infrastructures in Pakistan that is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.