Four insurgents killed in Pakistan's Balochistan province

Karachi, Jul 20 (PTI) Security forces have gunned down four insurgents, suspected of attacking a passenger bus earlier this week that killed three members of a qawwali troupe, in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province Sunday.
     The four were killed early in the morning during an intelligence-based operation in the Parod area of Kalat district in Balochistan, security sources said.
     The insurgents who attacked the bus had taken refuge in the mountainous areas near Parod, the sources said.
     On July 16, unidentified insurgents had opened fire on the passenger bus on the national highway in Kalat when it was going from Karachi in Sindh province to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.
     The incident had garnered much attention as it was taking a qaawali troupe linked with the late Amjad Sabri group for a private function. Among those killed was Muhammad Asif, an upcoming popular Bass player, Muhammad Bashir Sabri and Muhammad Raza, long-time members of the qawwali troupe.
     Insurgent groups have been active in recent weeks in the restive Balochistan province. Earlier on July 10, they had attacked a passenger bus in the Zhob-Loralai highway and after offloading nine passengers, all belonging to different areas of the Punjab province, killed them. Incidents of passenger buses being attacked by insurgent groups have increased in the volatile Balochistan province in recent months.
     Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has been in the grip of low-level violence for the last two decades. Ethnic Baloch groups involved in armed struggle accuse the federal government of exploiting the mineral wealth of the region.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)