What's behind the spate of attacks in Pakistan's Balochistan?

Pakistan’s Balochistan has witnessed the highest death toll in the last 24 hours blamed on terrorists in Balochistan province in recent years.

At least 74 people, including 21 terrorists and 14 security personnel, were killed in multiple clashes and attacks that lasted several hours in southwest Pakistan, officials and local media reported on Monday.

Gunmen mowed down people after dragging them off buses, cars and trucks. Police and passersby were fatally shot in broad daylight in another district.

A railway bridge connecting the province with the rest of the country was blown up. A police station was attacked. There have been other reports of shootings.

The assaults were more audacious and brutal than the ones usually perpetrated by terror groups, who normally target security personnel or installations.

Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest province, despite abundant untapped natural resources, and lags behind the rest of the country in education, employment and economic development.

Baloch separatists have in recent years intensified attacks on people from neighbouring provinces working in the region.

Though Pakistan’s largest province, Balochistan is its least populated, largely of high mountains.

Main players

The main player is the Balochistan Liberation Army group, which Pakistan and the US have designated as a terrorist organisation.

It targets security forces in Balochistan and sometimes Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and economic hub in Sindh province next door.

The BLA frequently, but not always, claims attacks. It has been banned since 2006.

The volatile relationship between Iran and Pakistan compounds the insecurity and instability. They share a 900-kilometre border.

Terrorists, usually from the BLA, launch small-scale assaults on security forces and installations, with the death toll in the single digits.

But the coordination and tactics of the past 24 hours reveal a greater level of ambition, defiance and sheer brutality.

Islamabad-based security analyst Syed Muhammad Ali said the latest killings are an attempt to harm the province economically, because “the weakening of Balochistan means the weakening of Pakistan.”

While terror attacks aim to discourage people from outside the region from travelling, trading, or working in the province, they also make life harder for the Balochis by discouraging investment, and aid and disrupting the flow of goods and services, Ali said.