Pakistan military says it concludes week-long fight against Baloch separatists

Pakistan's military said on Thursday it had concluded a week-long operation against separatists in Balochistan who stormed more than a dozen locations, taking hostages, setting off explosives and waging gun battles with security forces.

Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and poorest province, was brought to a virtual standstill on Saturday when the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) launched a coordinated sunrise attack.

Its fighters entered schools, banks, markets and security installations across the region in one of their largest ever operations.

Images from the provincial capital Quetta and other areas showed blown-out buildings, some razed to the ground, and blackened bricks and concrete strewn across the streets.

"Situation is now under control as there is no fighting in the city but people are very scared and concerned about their safety," Quetta resident Nasrullah Khan, 51, said.

SEARCH FOR MILITANTS ONGOING

The military said it "successfully concluded" its Radd Al-Fitna 1 (countering chaos) operation, thwarted separatist attacks, broke up sleeper cells and seized weapons.

There was no immediate comment from the Baloch Liberation Army on Thursday on whether it considered the fight was over.

The military said 216 militants were killed in targeted offensives across the troubled southwestern province in the operation which began on January 29, two days before the separatist attacks.

It said 22 security personnel and 36 civilians were killed in the fighting with the BLA. An official from the provincial Home Ministry gave a higher toll, saying 45 security officials and 40 civilians had been killed.

Security officials and witnesses said the insurgents seized government buildings and police stations in several locations, and took over the desert town of Nushki for three days before they were pushed out. Officials said helicopters and drones were used to eject separatist fighters from the town.

The Home Department official said security forces were still searching for militants across the province: "Police and law enforcement agencies are in pursuit now. However cities and government is functional. Routine is restored."

OPERATION BLACK STORM

Mineral-rich Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan and is home to Beijing's investment in the Gwadar deepwater port and other projects.

It has grappled with a decades-long insurgency led by ethnic Baloch separatists seeking greater autonomy and a larger share of its natural resources.

The BLA, which has urged people of the province to support the movement, said without providing evidence on Wednesday that it had killed 310 soldiers during its Operation "Herof", or Black Storm, which it said was still ongoing.