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Pakistan minister survives rocket attack

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Press Trust of India Islamabad
The Health Minister of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province today survived a rocket attack when unidentified assailants targeted his convoy, a media report said.

Unidentified assailants attacked the convoy of Balochistan Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch in Panjgur town today, officials said.

The minister and his aides remained unharmed in the incident, they sad.

The minister's convoy was targeted while he was travelling to Prom area from Panjgur, Assistant Commissioner Panjgur Abdul Jabbar was quoted as saying by the Dawn news.

The militants used various weapons, including rockets in the attack. However, the assailants escaped the scene when security personnel opened retaliatory fire.
 

Upon receiving reports of the incident, security personnel and Frontier Corps (FC) officials sealed the area and started a search operation.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as yet, the report said.

Rehmat Saleh Baloch, who belongs to National Party, was elected a member of Balochistan Assembly in the general elections of 2013.

Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade.

The largest province of the country by area, it is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

In May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistan's Mastung area.

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First Published: Jul 06 2017 | 4:07 PM IST

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