Twenty-four people, including five who have confessed to attacks, have been arrested in Balochistan, police said on Tuesday. The accused were rounded up during recent police raids at Killi Qamrani on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Quetta, Balochistan's police chief Chaudhry Yaqoob said. He told a press conference that police were interrogating the other 19 for their involvement in acts of violence.
Quetta has suffered a string of rocket attacks and bombings blamed on nationalist tribesmen demanding jobs and more royalties for the natural resources extracted from the province.
A shadowy group called the Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed most of the attacks in the recent past, including a rocket barrage on Pakistan's biggest natural gas plant in January which left eight people dead and sparked a surge in violence in the region.