At least four security personnel were killed and one injured after a group of armed men targeted their convoy in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Saturday, confirmed a police official.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent weeks after a proscribed network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), announced to end a truce with the government in November.
Balochistan itself has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by various separatist groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad.
Saturday’s attack took place in the area of Turbat in Kech district when the security convoy was heading back to the Frontier Corps headquarters.
“The security forces’ convoy was attacked by armed men in an area situated some 13 kilometers away from Turbat city during the early hours of the day, killing four soldiers and injuring one,” Muhammad Jan Baloch, a station house officer in the area, told Arab News.
The incident took place only a day after the TTP claimed responsibility for a suicide blast in Pakistan’s federal capital which killed a policeman and a civilian.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the security forces in Turbat.
However, the TTP claimed in a statement on Friday that an armed faction, led by Mazar Baloch, in the southwestern province had pledged allegiance to the leadership of the militant network.
