By Saleem Ahmed and Asif Shahzad
QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Pakistani forces used drones and helicopters to wrest control of a southwestern town from separatist insurgents after a three-day battle, police said on Wednesday, as the number of civilians and security personnel killed in the violence rose to 58.
Saturday's wave of coordinated attacks by the Baloch Liberation Army brought Pakistan's largest province to a near standstill as insurgents set off explosives and exchanged fire with security forces in more than a dozen places.
Security officials said they had killed 197 militants, including 41 killed on Friday in military operations that took place before the insurgents' attacks.
Fighters of the BLA, the region's strongest insurgent group, stormed schools, banks, markets and security installations across Balochistan in one of their largest operations ever, killing more than 22 security personnel and 36 civilians.
"They were riding on motorcycles and were armed with grenades and rifles," said Nasrullah Khan, 51, who lives in the provincial capital Quetta.
"I haven't seen devastating and coordinated attacks like these before," Khan added, saying the attacks started around 5 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Saturday.
SUNRISE ATTACK
Trains running through Quetta have not been operating since Saturday, an official from the national railways operator said, while mobile internet was also down across much of the province, a Reuters journalist said.
Khan said he saw three police stations set on fire by the insurgents, who wreaked havoc on the city before security forces arrived on the scene. He later saw a military helicopter firing shells at the attackers.
"Situation is now under control as there is no fighting in the city but people are very scared and concerned about their safety," he said.
Pakistan's interior ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
SIEGE IN THE DESERT
In the desert town of Nushki, home to about 50,000, the insurgents seized control of the police station and other security installations, triggering a three-day standoff.
"On January 31, at around 5:30 in the morning, some miscreants snuck into our homes and took over the property," said Assistant Commissioner Naushki Maria Shamoon, adding the attackers took over the government complex and held the deputy commissioner hostage.
Police said seven officers were killed in the fighting before they regained control of the town late on Monday. Residents there were recovering without power on Wednesday, local security official Colonel Ansar Ali said.
"Helicopters and drones were used against the militants," said one security official, adding operations against the BLA continued elsewhere in the province.
Police officials gave details of the situation on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
LATE NIGHT ATTACKS
Mineral-rich Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan and is home to Beijing's investment in the Gwadar deepwater port and other projects.
It has grappled with a decades-long insurgency led by ethnic Baloch separatists seeking greater autonomy and a larger share of its natural resources.
The BLA said on Tuesday it had killed 280 soldiers during its Operation "Herof", or Black Storm, but gave no evidence.
Officials said the attacks began at 4 a.m. on Saturday with suicide blasts in Nushki and the fishing port of Pasni and gun and grenade attacks in 11 more places, including Quetta.
The insurgents seized at least six district administration offices, took provincial officials hostage, and had advanced at one point to within 1 km (0.6 mile) of the provincial chief minister's office in Quetta, the police officials said.
Ahead of the attack, the BLA made announcements in mosques asking people to support them, saying they were waging a war to take over all state offices in the province, the officials said.
EVOLVING INSURGENCY
Pakistan has blamed India for the attacks, without furnishing evidence for charges that could escalate tensions between the nuclear-powered neighbours, who fought their worst armed conflict in decades in May.
India's foreign ministry has rejected the charges, saying Islamabad should instead tackle the "long-standing demands of its people in the region".
Retired Lieutenant General Amir Riaz, who led the military in Balochistan from 2015 to 2017, said the insurgency had evolved over the last decade, adding it would likely continue to alternate between stalemate and periods of heightened violence.
"It has escalated. The response will be decisive, leading to serious capacity degradation of BLA," he said, denying that the Pakistani military has used excessive force in Balochistan.
(Reporting by Saleem Ahmed in Quetta and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Additional reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi and Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Alex Richardson)
