2 Pak soldiers killed as armed men open indiscriminate fire on security personnel in Balochistan

Unidentified armed men opened indiscriminate fire on a Pakistan Army bomb disposal team near the port city of Gwadar in the restive Balochistan province, killing two soldiers and injuring four others.

The bomb disposal team of the Pakistan Army was busy clearing landmines in the Ankara Dam area of Gwadar district when gunmen opened fire on them on Sunday, the Dawn newspaper reported on Monday.

Two security personnel were killed and four others injured in the attack in the Ankara Dam area on Sunday, officials said.

“The firing incident took place some 25km from the port city [Gwadar], which claimed two lives and injured four others,” said Gwadar SSP Mohsin Zohaib, adding that after the incident, the bodies and the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital.

Security forces have laun­ched a sea­rch operation in the area to trace the attackers.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has, in the past, claimed most of the attacks in Gwadar.

The BLA is opposed to China’s investments in Balochistan and accuses China and Pakistan of exploitation of the resource-rich province, a charge rejected by the authorities.

On March 24, the BLA also claimed responsibility for an attack on the Gwadar Port Authority Complex. Security forces had killed eight militants of the banned separatist group in the gunfire.

Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is home to a long-running violent insurgency. Baloch insurgent groups have previously carried out several attacks targeting the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic corridor projects.