The separatist group claims the deadliest day in recent history in Pakistan’s Balochistan and threatens more

Multiple attacks in southwestern Pakistan have killed more than 50 people, most of them civilians. The banned Balochistan Liberation Army insisted it had not harmed civilians and claimed 800 of its well-trained fighters took part in the shooting and shelling that began Sunday night.

The attacks indicate that the BLA, which has targeted security forces for years in small-scale attacks and is allied with the Pakistani Taliban, is now much more organized.

But Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a Cabinet meeting that there would be no peace talks with the group. And Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Quetta, Balochistan’s capital, that there was no need for a large-scale operation, saying the insurgents could be taken out by police.