Almost 200 separatists killed after attacks in Pakistan: official

Pakistan's security forces have killed almost 200 separatist insurgents in southwestern Balochistan province since they launched a wave of attacks over the weekend, a security official said Wednesday, taking the overall death toll past 250.

Fighting has continued between government forces and the militants following the coordinated attacks, with sporadic clashes still taking place in some districts after gunmen stormed banks, jails, police stations and military installations.

Pakistan has been battling a Baloch separatist insurgency for decades, with frequent armed attacks on security forces, foreign nationals and non-local Pakistanis in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

A senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Wednesday that "197 terrorists have been killed in the ongoing counter-terrorism operations".

He added that at least 36 civilians and 22 security personnel were killed during the coordinated attacks in restive Balochistan.

The chief minister of Balochistan, Sarfraz Bugti, told a news conference in the provincial capital Quetta on Sunday that all the districts under attack were cleared.

"We are chasing them, we will not let them go so easily," he said.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the province's most active militant separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement sent to AFP.

The group, which the United States has designated a terrorist organisation, said it had targeted military installations as well as police and civil administration officials in gun attacks and suicide bombings.

The BLA has intensified attacks on Pakistanis from other provinces working in the region in recent years, as well as foreign energy firms.

Last year, the separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board, sparking a deadly two-day siege.

The United Nations on Tuesday called the recent attacks "heinous and cowardly".

A Security Council spokesman said members "expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and the people of Pakistan", a statement said.

Funerals of some of the victims are due to take place on Wednesday afternoon.