UPDATE 2 - 56 killed in multiple terrorist attacks in Pakistan

UPDATES WITH RESPONSIBILITY CLAIM, NO CHANGES IN HEADER, LEDE, AND DECK

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - At least 56 people, including 12 terrorists, were killed in multiple clashes and attacks that lasted several hours in southwest and northwest Pakistan, officials and local media reported on Monday.

Suspected militants killed 23 passengers in southwestern Balochistan province on Monday morning after forcing them to disembark from several vehicles, the latest in a string of heinous terrorist incidents in the province.

The incident occurred near the Musakhel district, where heavily armed militants blocked a key road, stopped several vehicles, and offloaded passengers before spraying them with bullets.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti confirmed the incident, saying the terrorists targeted "innocent" people, vowing that they and their "facilitators" will be brought to justice.

According to police, the attackers set at least 10 vehicles on fire before fleeing.

Local broadcaster Geo News aired footage of several burnt vehicles lining the road.

Shahid Rind, a Balochistan government spokeswoman, told reporters that the terrorists searched buses and trucks and checked the passengers' identities before killing them. The deceased people are said to be from the northeastern Punjab province.

Meanwhile, another 10 people, including five security personnel and as many citizens, were killed in a night-long clash between militants and police on the National Highway in Balochistan's Qalat district, Qalat City Police chief Dostin Dashti told reporters.

Separately, local police found four bullet-riddled bodies in the mountains of Bolan district.

Police said 12 attackers have so far been killed and several injured in clashes.

Separately, armed assailants stormed and took control of a police station in the province's Mastung district for several hours.

They set fire to the record and several vehicles that were parked inside the police station.

The police said they regained control of the police station, forcing the attackers to flee.

However, the body of an unknown man has been found outside the police station.

Meanwhile, a bomb blast in the Bolan district destroyed a key railway bridge, killing two people and halting rail traffic between Balochistan and other provinces.

Balochistan Liberation Army, an outlawed separatist group, in a statement to local media, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The group has long targeted security forces and non-Baloch residents of the province.

In northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, at least four people were killed and several injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Rizmak town of North Waziristan tribal district, which borders Afghanistan.

Pakistan has seen a surge in terror attacks in recent years, particularly in the provinces of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan.

Mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but poorest province. Security forces have long faced a low-intensity rebellion from Baloch separatists, who claim the province has been denied major developments in the province.

The province is also a key route for the $64 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which aims to connect China's strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province with Balochistan's Gwadar port via a network of roads, railways, and pipelines for cargo, oil, and gas transportation.