ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday paid tribute to 10 Pakistani soldiers killed by militant gunfire near the border with Iran
The soldiers were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in Kech, southwestern Balochistan province, the Pakistani military said in a statement on Thursday evening. The troops returned fire, killing one attacker and arrested three militants as a search for those who launched the attack was still underway.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Our brave soldiers continue to lay down their lives to keep us safe from terrorists,” the prime minister said in a Twitter post. “I salute the 10 martyred soldiers who repulsed a terrorist fire raid on checkpost in Kech Balochistan. We are resolute in our commitment to rid Pakistan of all forms of terrorism.”
Pakistan has recently seen an increase in attacks, including in urban areas.
In this picture taken on January 27, 2022, military officials and local residents offer funeral prayers for a soldier who was killed in an attack in the Kech district of Balochistan province, in Dera Murad Jamali. (AFP)
A bomb blast in a crowded market in Lahore last week killed three people and injured 33 others. Day earlier, militants also targeted police personnel, killing one in the federal capital, Islamabad.
Attacks on the country’s 959-km long border with Iran are frequent. The border which begins at the Koh-i-Malik Salih mountain and ends at Gwadar Bay in the Gulf of Oman. Pakistan is constructing a fence along the border, which it expects to complete within a year.
Both Pakistan and Iran have repeatedly accused each other of allowing militants to cross their shared frontier and carry out attacks. Both deny state complicity.
