Eighteen paramilitaries were killed and three others seriously wounded in an attack in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, police and local officials told AFP on Saturday.

A vehicle “carrying unarmed Frontier Corps paramilitaries” near the town of Mangochar “came under gunfire from 70 to 80 armed assailants who had blocked the road”, a police official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The overnight attack killed 17 of the passengers and a paramilitary who came to their aid, he said, confirming reports from local sources.

Three other paramilitaries were seriously wounded and two escaped unharmed, he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades in impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

There has been an increase in attacks in the volatile province in recent months, with six people killed in a bombing in January claimed by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

The BLA frequently claims deadly attacks against security forces or Pakistanis from other provinces, notably Punjabis in Balochistan.

https://guardian.ng/news/police-say-18-pakistan-paramilitaries-killed-in-ambush/