Three counter-terrorism officials killed in militant attack in Pakistan’s Balochistan

QUETTA: Unidentified militants attacked a vehicle of the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) and killed three officials in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, a senior police official said on Sunday.
Pakistan’s largest province of Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and is home to major China-led projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine, has been the site of a decades-long separatist insurgency by ethnic Baloch militants.
The militants ambushed the ATF vehicle in Zhob, a remote district bordering the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, late on Saturday night, according to Superintendent of Police Saboor Agha. The ATF members were en route to Dera Ismail Khan after handing over a prisoner to authorities in Zhob.
“One soldier was killed at the ambush site, while two others succumbed to gunshot wounds on their to provincial headquarters of Quetta,” SP Agha told Arab News. “A fourth soldier injured in the attack is being treated in Quetta.”
Saturday’s attack occurred on the Zhob-Dera Ismail Khan highway close to Balochistan’s border with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where militants, particularly from the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have intensified attacks against security forces in recent months.
Last month, separatist militants hit several civil and military targets in a string of coordinated attacks in Balochistan, killing more than 50 people. The attacks prompted Pakistani military to gun down a dozen militants in separate operations in the province.
The separatists accuse the central government of exploiting Balochistan’s mineral and gas resources. The Pakistani state denies the allegation and says it is working to uplift the region through development initiatives.
Islamabad says militants mainly associated with the banned TTP frequently launch attacks from Afghanistan and has even blamed Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers for facilitating anti-Pakistan militants. Kabul denies the charges.