Gunmen kill 9 policemen in Pakistan attack
A group of militant gunmen ambushed a remote police post in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan on Monday night (July 6). At least nine police officers were killed and several others were seriously injured in a fierce gunfight between security forces and militants.
Balochistan police said the attack took place in a remote area of the province’s Ziarat district. In the first phase of the attack, militants abducted eight police officers from the post. However, security forces launched a special rescue operation soon after the incident and were able to rescue all the kidnapped officers unharmed, confirmed Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind.
Government spokesman Shahid Rind added that a coordinated search and rescue operation by security forces has already been completed after the rescue of the policemen, in which at least fifteen militant attackers were killed in retaliatory fire by soldiers.
He has clearly warned that intelligence-based military operations will continue to crack down on extremists in the region and that any cowardly attack on the country’s law enforcement agencies will be met with a strong and decisive response.
No local or international armed group has officially claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bloody attack. However, the country’s administration strongly suspects that the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a banned organization that has been active in the region for a long time, is behind the incident.
It is worth noting that the BLA extremist group had previously claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a security checkpoint in the coastal city of Jiwani in Balochistan last week. However, the government has not yet confirmed or denied their claim.
Source: AP
