QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Assailants ambushed security forces patrolling a remote district in southwestern Pakistan, killing five of them before fleeing the scene, the military said Friday.
In a statement, it said troops also returned fire and a search operation was underway for the assailants near the scene in Sibi, a district in the insurgency-wracked Baluchistan province.
No one claimed responsibility. But militants and separatists often attack security workers in Baluchistan, which has for years been the scene of a low-level insurgency by small separatist groups who complain of discrimination and demand a fairer share of their province’s resources and wealth, such as natural gas and mines.
The Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group also have a presence there.
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