Pakistani Gunmen Kill Six in Ambush

02/08/2004| IslamWeb

Gunmen attacked a government vehicle near a small town in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, killing at least six people, including five soldiers, and wounding two, police said. The gunmen ambushed the vehicle near Khuzdar, around 200km southeast of the Baluchi provincial capital, Quetta, they said. "Five soldiers and a civilian were killed in the attack," military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said. One soldier and a civilian were wounded, he said. Sultan said the soldiers were in civilian clothes and were going on leave. "It is an act of terrorism. We have launched investigations," he said. The Baluch National Army (BNA), a shadowy armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the BNA, who identified himself as Azad Khan, telephoned several newspapers offices in Quetta, claiming that the attack was in response to a military operation on Baluch fighters. He vowed more such attacks if the crackdown continued. Pakistan security forces launched a massive operation last week in the Turbat area, around 380km south of Khuzdar, following a similar attack in which two soldiers were killed. Police blame Baluchi nationalists for the frequent attacks on security forces and government installations. The nationalists demand more control over the area's natural gas and mineral resources as well as political and economic rights. They are also vehemently opposing government plans to build three military cantonments in the province, saying that the government should allocate funds for development instead.