Separatist gunmen kill 7 Pakistani troops

A Pakistani official says gunmen have killed seven paramilitary soldiers in Baluchistan province.

Separatist insurgents have overrun a Pakistani military checkpoint in the southwestern Baluchistan province, killing seven soldiers, officials say.

Around 40 rebels armed with automatic assault rifles attacked the soldiers in Lorali area before dawn, provincial Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti said.

The gunmen fled to the mountains after the attack, said Manzoor Ahmed, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps force that mans checkpoints in Baluchistan.

A spokesman for the Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to a Pakistani television channel.

The BLA and around half a dozen other similar groups are fighting for Baluchistan to become independent from Pakistan, accusing political and military leaders of depriving them of control over their resources.


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Source: AAP


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