Gunmen killed nine police officers in an attack on a checkpoint at the construction site of a dam project in Baluchistan, a southwestern province of Pakistan plagued by unrest, local authorities said Tuesday.
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“Nine police officers died and several others are missing following an attack on a checkpoint which provided security for the Mangi dam construction site,” Abdul Qudoos, a senior district official, told AFP.
A spokesperson for the provincial government confirmed this toll, specifying that senior officers from several police stations were among the victims and attributing responsibility for the attack to Islamist fighters.
Pakistan is battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan, where fighters are targeting state forces as well as foreign investment and infrastructure projects in the mineral-rich province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Islamabad believes that the intensification of attacks in Pakistan’s border regions is the work of groups from Afghanistan, which the Afghan authorities have repeatedly denied.
Heavy fighting has taken place in recent months between the two countries on their border and Pakistan has launched airstrikes on Afghan territory, saying they targeted militiamen, but which Taliban government officials and the United Nations say have killed dozens of civilians.
