Pakistan says death toll from militant attacks in southwest rises to 42
Militant attacks in Pakistan's Balochistan killed 42 civilians and security personnel as the military pledged a stronger response.
Three militant attacks in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province have killed 42 civilians and security personnel in four days, the country's military said on Wednesday.
Military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a televised broadcast the casualties included four civilians as well as police and soldiers -- raising the number from nine law enforcement officers confirmed killed on Tuesday.
He said 54 militants had also been killed and signalled further military operations.
"We will hunt you and hurt you everywhere," Chaudhry said in an address on state television.
He accused arch foe India, with which Pakistan fought a four-day skirmish last year, of backing the militants.
New Delhi has previously denied such accusations from Islamabad.
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Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency for years in Balochistan, where separatist militants target state forces and foreign investment and infrastructure projects in the mineral-rich province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Provincial and district officials said on Tuesday that gunmen had stormed a checkpoint guarding the Mangi dam project, killing nine police officers and leaving more missing.
The latest violence is part of intensifying attacks in Pakistan's border regions, which Islamabad says emanate from Afghanistan. Authorities in Kabul have repeatedly denied any involvement.
Pakistan has launched airstrikes on Afghan territory in recent months that it says targets militants but that Taliban government officials and the United Nations say have killed dozens of civilians.
Some attacks in Balochistan have been claimed by ethnic Baloch separatist groups.
In May, 24 people were killed in a blast targeting a train carrying military personnel in the provincial capital Quetta.
Pakistan's security forces killed almost 200 separatists in the province in February, after the insurgents launched a wave of attacks that killed more than 50 civilians and security personnel.
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