20, including 13 soldiers, killed in two attacks in Pakistan in 24 hours

ISLAMABAD: A gun and rocket attack targeting a Pakistani paramilitary escort on Thursday killed seven soldiers and seven private security guards in the southwestern Balochistan province, while six soldiers, including one officer, were killed in the former tribal areas late Wednesday, officials said.
At least 49 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in the tribal region since March, according to a Reuters tally of official figures.
In the restive Balochistan province, guards were escorting an Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) convoy traveling to Pakistan’s financial hub of Karachi from the port city of Gawadar.
OGDCL personnel escaped the attack safely, but 14 guards were killed, the Pakistani military said in a statement.
An umbrella organization of Baloch militant groups claimed responsibility for the attack. Balochistan, Pakistan’s most impoverished province, has long been home to a low-level insurgency by separatists who want to secede over what they call the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral wealth. The state denies any discrimination.
In North Waziristan in a separate attack, the Pakistan military said two explosions had targeted military patrols along the Afghan border. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of militants fighting against the Pakistani state and its security forces, claimed the attack.