Seven soldiers and seven private security guards were killed in a gun and rocket attack in southwest Pakistan, officials said.
According to a Reuters report, the security detail was escorting a convoy of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited on a coastal highway travelling to the southern city of Karachi from the port town of Gawadar, located in the restive Balochistan province.
Mineral-rich Balochistan has been a sensitive area, prone to attacks by insurgents. The province also has been in news lately, as it is a showcase for China’s Belt and Road development plan to create a lucrative transportation corridor to western China.
The Pakistani military's public relations wing said the OGDCL personnel managed to escape the attack. There has been an increase in attacks by the Baluchistan Liberation Army, which is known to have Chinese citizens among them.
Responsibility for the attack has been confirmed by an umbrella organisation of Baloch terrorist groups via a social media post.
Before this, there have been two explosions targeted at military patrols along the Afghan border near Razmak, North Waziristan, which was claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan—an umbrella group of Islamist terrorist fighting against the Pakistani state and its security forces.
