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Pakistani terrorists attack highway vehicles and kill 39

Separatist fighters attacked police stations, railway lines and vehicles on highways in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Monday, killing at least 39 people, according to officials in the largest attack by ethnic insurgents in years.

For decades, militants have been waging an ethnic insurgency demanding the secession of the resource-rich southwestern province. The province is home to numerous major projects under Chinese management, including a strategically important port and a gold and copper mine.

The most serious attack was directed against vehicles – from buses to trucks – on a major highway. According to official figures, at least 23 people were killed and ten vehicles were set on fire.

A railway line between Pakistan and Iran and a railway bridge connecting Quetta, the provincial capital, with the rest of the country were also hit with explosives in the attacks, railway official Muhammad Kashif said, adding that rail traffic to Quetta had been suspended.

Police said they had found six bodies near the site of the attack on the railway bridge, but their identification has not yet been confirmed.

Around the same time, militants also attacked police and security stations in the sprawling province, officials said. At least 10 people were killed in one of the attacks.

On Sunday evening, gunmen blocked a highway in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, dragging passengers from their vehicles and shooting them after checking their identification documents, Ayub Achakzai, a senior police superintendent, told Reuters.

“The gunmen killed not only passengers but also the drivers of coal trucks,” said Hameed Zahir, the region's deputy commissioner, adding that at least 10 trucks were set on fire after their drivers were killed.

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