QUETTA, Pakistan: Pakistan said its security forces killed 92 militants in the multiple suicide and gun attacks across the restive southwestern province of Balochistan that also killed 33 others, including civilians, on December 31.

It was the deadliest single day for militants in decades.

During the attacks, Baloch insurgents targeted civilians, a high-security prison, police stations, and paramilitary installations.

Coordinated attacks on this scale are rare, although Baloch separatists and the Pakistani Taliban frequently target security forces in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country. At least 133 militants have been killed across the region over the past 48 hours, including 92 on Saturday.

The military and Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi were quick to blame India for the attack, but India denied any hand in the attacks.

The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said it carried out the suicide bombings and gun attacks. During the violence, some banks were robbed, a police station was burned, and many vehicles were set on fire. The BLA shared videos showing women fighters taking part in the attacks, likely to promote the role of women in the group.

Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, said most of the attacks were stopped. The attacks happened a day after the military announced that security forces had raided two militant hideouts in southwest Pakistan earlier in the week and killed 41 insurgents in separate gun battles.

The provincial chief minister, Sarfraz Bugti, wrote on X that security forces were chasing the militants. He said security forces had killed at least 700 insurgents over the past year. Earlier on Saturday, officials said militants had blown up railway tracks, forcing Pakistan Railways to stop train services from Balochistan to other parts of the country.

The attacks started almost at the same time across the province, said provincial Health Minister Bakht Muhammad Kakar. He said two police officers were killed when a grenade was thrown at a police vehicle in Quetta, the provincial capital. The government then declared an emergency in all hospitals.

Police said dozens of militants also attacked a prison in Mastung district and freed more than 30 prisoners. In another incident, militants tried to attack the principal office of paramilitary forces in Nushki district, but security forces pushed them back.

Local officials said militants threw grenades at a government office in the Dalbandin district, but security forces responded quickly, and the attackers ran away. Police also said attacks on security posts in the Balincha, Tump, and Kharan districts had been stopped. In Pasni and Gwadar, militants tried to kidnap bus passengers on highways.

The BLA is banned in Pakistan and is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States. It has carried out many attacks in recent years. Pakistan says India supports the group, but India denies this. Pakistan has also often claimed that Baloch separatists, the Pakistani Taliban, and other militants use Afghan territory to launch attacks into Pakistan, which Afghanistan denies.

Abdullah Khan, head of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies in Islamabad, told The Associated Press that terrorists linked to the BLA or other groups had never before been killed in such high numbers in a single day in Balochistan.

Baloch separatist groups and the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have increased their attacks in recent months. The TTP is a separate group but is allied with Afghanistan's Taliban, who returned to power in August 2021.