QUETTA: At least eight suspected militants and one member of a tribal peace force were killed in Pakistan’s Balochistan province after dozens of armed militants attacked the residence of a local administration official and tribal leader in the Dera Bugti district, an official said on Sunday.

The latest clashes between militants and members of the local peace force erupted midnight on Saturday in Loti, a mountainous town located some 25 kilometers from Dera Bugti city, a government official who requested anonymity, told Arab News.

Dozens of militants targeted the residence of District Council Chairman Ghulam Nabi Shambani, who was not present at home at the time, though his brother fought with the attackers along with his supporters and members of the peace force.

“One local member of the Dera Bugti peace force and eight terrorists were killed in the armed clashes which lasted for hours,” the government official said. “Three members of the peace force were injured who were later airlifted to Ziauddin Hospital, Sukkur as one injured was in critical condition.”

No group immediately claimed responsibility for targeting the residence of Shambani, the district council chairman and a local tribal leader, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatists who have often targeted political and tribal leaders who are seen as “pro-state.”

“Police and other law enforcement agencies accompanied by the local peace force have surrounded the area as some of the terrorists are still hidden in the mountains and attempting to escape,” the government official said.

Baber Yousafzai, an aide at the provincial home department, told Arab News that the local peace force and police successfully thwarted the attack in Dera Bugti.

“Six terrorists were also captured alive by the local peace force,” he said.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a long-running separatist insurgency and has witnessed kidnappings of and attacks targeting foreign nationals, infrastructure projects, security forces, police, state-backed tribal leaders and non-native Pakistanis.

On Saturday night, another tribal leader, Ghulam Nabi Siyahpad, was shot dead by armed men in a separate incident in Khuzdar district of Balochistan, according to authorities. No group claimed his killing either.

Earlier this month, at least five people including a police constable were killed after armed militants attacked the residence of a state-backed tribal leader in a remote mountainous area of Khuzdar district.

In July, a prominent tribal leader Mir Shafique Ur Rehman Mengal had narrowly escaped an attack after a group of armed men, including suicide bombers, stormed his residence in Khuzdar, according to police. The attack, claimed by BLA, had killed at least 17 people.