At least two Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed and six others wounded today by separatists in the restive southwestern Baluchistan province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, officials said.
The rebels opened fire at a post of the Baluchistan Constabulary paramilitary force around 40 kilometres south of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.
"The incident took place at around 6:00 in morning in Mastung region. We have received reports that two soldiers have been killed and six others are wounded," said Akbar Durrani, home secretary of the province.
"We have sent a party to the area to gather more details," he said.
A local official in the area also confirmed the incident.
Resource-rich Baluchistan is home to a long-running separatist conflict that was revived in 2004, with nationalists seeking to stop what they see as the exploitation of the region's natural resources and alleged rights abuses.
The idea of giving greater autonomy to the province, the size of Italy but with only nine million inhabitants, is highly sensitive in a country still scarred by the independence in 1971 of its eastern portion, now Bangladesh.
