ISLAMABAD: Two Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed and a policeman injured in two separate attacks in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Tuesday, officials said.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by area but most impoverished, has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatist groups seeking independence from the central government in Islamabad. The militant groups accuse the state of depriving Balochistan of its mineral riches for the benefit of other provinces. Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership reject the allegations.
In a latest spate of attacks, armed men ambushed a security check post early on Tuesday in Dringarh, a remote town situated in Mastung district, some 47 kilometers away from the provincial capital of Quetta.
“Two soldiers of the Levis force were killed in an ambush while the terrorists confiscated their weapons and ammunition after attacking the security check-post,” Muhammad Ashraf, a Levis officer told Arab News from the Levis Control Room in Mastung.
“We have initiated an investigation after the attacks and a hunt for the attackers is underway.”
Chief Minister Balochistan Mir Abdul Qudus Bizenjo said Pakistan’s “enemies were attempting to spoil peace in Balochistan.”
Pakistan has variously accused India of funding and providing logistical support to separatist groups in Balochistan, a charge New Delhi denies. Pakistan has also asked Iran to crack down on militants harboring along the long and porous shared border by the two nations. Tehran denies state complicity.
In a separate assault on Tuesday, a policeman was injured during an attack on a police check-point in Chaman, a border town between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“Two attackers riding on a motorbike attacked the police force,” District Police Officer Killa Abdullah, Muhammad Ali Kasi, told Arab News. “During retaliation, one terrorist was killed and their bike and pistol seized from the spot.”
A policeman injured in the attack was “stable,” Kasi said, and security had been beefed up across the city.
No group has as yet claimed Tuesday’s two attacks, which come as Pakistan has seen a surge in militant activity since November last year when the Pakistani Taliban unilaterally ended a cease-fire with the Pakistani state and announced that it would target security forces across the country.
In Balochistan, however, the TTP is not the most active group and the province is most at threat from separatist and sectarian outfits.
