Separatist group claims deadliest day in recent history in Pakistan's Balochistan

  • last month

Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English

Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00In the early hours of Monday morning, this police station was besieged by militants of
00:04the Balochistan Liberation Army for over five hours. Twelve police officers were taken hostage.
00:11Their weapons seized before the insurgents set the building on fire. They freed the hostages
00:16at dawn before fleeing the area. Across the street, this shopkeeper is one of the witnesses.
00:23It was late in the evening when I heard gunshots, and I immediately closed my shop and ran back
00:28home. The shooting continued through the night. No one in the village could sleep, and everyone
00:33was terrified. The police station was completely burned. The situation has been terrible since
00:38then. Police and paramilitary are patrolling. In less than 24 hours, the Baloch separatist
00:44group attacked 10 districts of the province, blocking highways, burning down vehicles,
00:49killing civilians and security forces. The scale and intensity of the recent coordinated
00:54attacks in the province of Balochistan is alarming, and it raises serious concerns
00:59over the security situation in the area. People are very worried.
01:04Forty-five kilometres away, the situation is tense in the streets of Quetta, the provincial
01:10capital. Day labourers from Punjab are particularly scared. Several people gunned down on roads
01:16by insurgents who are from their province.
01:19It's the height of cruelty. Those poor people who were travelling on buses were taken off
01:24them, their documents checked, and they were targeted. We can't even return to our hometown.
01:29We're stuck here. The security situation is terrible. We're scared. The government isn't
01:33doing anything to protect us. We don't even go out much in the city anymore.
01:37Security forces are on high alert in Balochistan as the fear of further attacks grows.

Recommended