7 security personnel killed in Pakistan attack

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - At least seven security personnel were killed and over a dozen more injured in an armed attack in southwest Pakistan on Saturday, marking the latest in a series of terrorist assaults in the region in recent months, according to police.

Heavily armed terrorists attacked a security checkpoint in Kallat in the restive Balochistan province, killing seven personnel from the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force deployed to maintain law and order in the area.

Another 15 personnel were also injured in the assault.

No group has claimed responsibility for the brazen attack, but security forces have pointed to Baloch separatist groups, particularly the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which has a history of targeting security forces and citizens from other provinces residing in Balochistan.

The mineral-rich province has witnessed deadly attacks on both security forces and civilians this month, including a suicide bombing at a railway station in the provincial capital Quetta that left 28 people dead. The BLA claimed responsibility for that bombing.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in a statement, saying that it would not shake the nation’s resolve in its fight against terrorism.

Balochistan, which shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan, holds strategic importance due to its vast reserves of copper, zinc, and natural gas. The province is also crucial to the $64 billion Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, a major infrastructure project designed to connect China’s northwestern Xinjiang province to Balochistan’s Gwadar port through a network of roads, railways, and pipelines for transporting cargo, oil, and gas.

Baloch separatists, who have been accused of kidnapping and killing Chinese workers in recent years, strongly oppose the project.