Militants kill seven paramilitary troops in southwestern Pakistan

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Militants ***** seven paramilitary troops in southwestern Pakistan

By Saleem Ahmed

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Militants stormed a paramilitary checkpoint in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, ******** seven troops, the latest in a string of attacks by separatist insurgents, police said.

The early-morning ******* in the mountainous Kalat district, some 150 km south of Quetta, capital of the southwestern Balochistan province, continued for several hours, said police officer Habib-ur-Rehman.

Another 18 wounded paramilitary soldiers, some in critical condition, were admitted to local hospitals, he said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the *******.

Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said in an email sent to a Reuters reporter that its fighters had attacked the checkpoint.

The group has stepped up its operations recently, claiming a ******** ******** last week that targeted Pakistani army troops at a railway station minutes before they were due to board a train to return home for vacations. It ******* 27, including 19 soldiers, who were in civilian clothing.

The group also claimed a ******** ******** last month outside the southern Karachi international airport, which ******* two ******** engineers.

The BLA and several other militant groups have been fighting for decades for a separate homeland to gain a greater share of the mineral and resource rich Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

The region is home to Gwadar Port, built by China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to expand China’s global reach by road, rail and sea.

(Reporting by Saleem Ahmed; Additional Reporting by Saud Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

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