Pakistan forces kill 145 fighters in two-day battle

QUETTA: Pakistani security forces killed 145 fighters in a 40-hour battle launched as a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks across Balochistan left nearly 50 people dead, the province's chief minister said on Sunday.
Authorities in the southwestern province are battling one of the deadliest flare-ups in years, as insurgents in the resource-rich province bordering Iran and Afghanistan step up assaults on security forces, civilians and infrastructure.
Attackers dressed as ordinary civilians entered hospitals, schools, banks and markets on ​Saturday before opening fire, Pakistan's junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry said.
'In each case, the attackers came in dressed as civilians and ‌indiscriminately targeted ordinary people working in shops,' he said, adding militants had used civilians as human shields.
The banned separatist group Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it had launched a coordinated operation dubbed Herof, or 'black storm', targeting security forces across the province.
In Quetta, the provincial capital, the aftermath was visible in burnt-out vehicles ‌at a police station, bullet-riddled doors and streets sealed off with yellow tape, ‍as security forces tightened patrols and ‌restricted movement following the attacks.
Chief Minister of Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti said 17 law enforcement personnel and 31 civilians ‍were killed in the militant attacks. Pakistan's military said 92 militants were killed on Saturday, while 41 were killed on Friday.
'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,' Bugti said.
The latest total is the highest number of militants killed in such a short span since the insurgency intensified, Bugti said, without providing comparative figures.
Officials said the militant assaults were launched almost simultaneously across Quetta, Gwadar, Mastung and Noshki districts, with armed men opening fire at security installations including a Frontier Corps headquarters, attempting suicide bombings and briefly blocking roads in urban areas, prompting large-scale counter-operations by the army, police and counterterrorism units.
Outside a damaged shop, private security guard Jamil Ahmed Mashwani said attackers struck shortly after midday. 'They hit me on my face and head.' - Reuters