Police say 18 soldiers killed in ambush in southwestern Pakistan
Pakistan’s police say 18 soldiers were killed and three others seriously wounded in an attack in the southwestern Balochistan province.
A vehicle "carrying unarmed Frontier Corps paramilitaries" near the town of Mangochar "came under gunfire from 70 to 80 armed assailants who had blocked the road,” police said.
The attack on Friday night killed 17 of the passengers and a paramilitary who came to their aid.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Provincial administration officials said they don’t know how many attackers were killed “because they took the bodies of their fighters to the mountains in the dark.”
He said, “Security forces have completed the clearance operation in the area during the early hours of Saturday and the Quetta-Karachi highway (N-25) is opened for traffic.”
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources has long faced insurgency led by separatist groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) militant group.
The group claims that Islamabad exploits the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper while neglecting the local population.
Pakistan has reported more than 856 attacks so far in 2024, surpassing the 645 incidents recorded in 2023.
Authorities say more than 1,500 violent incidents in the first 10 months of last year have resulted in at least 924 deaths. Among the casualties were at least 570 law enforcement personnel and 351 civilians.
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