Militants' ambush kills 9 in Pakistan city Quetta

QUETTA, Pakistan, June 14 (Reuters) Militants ambushed a vehicle today, killing six soldiers and three other people in the southwest Pakistan city of Quetta, hours after a visit by a senior US official, Pakistani military officials said.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher had stopped in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province, during a trip to the frontier region to check Pakistan's efforts to stop Taliban fighters crossing into Afghanistan to fight Western and Afghan forces.

Pakistan's military spokesman was unable to say who was behind the attack in a region where support for the Taliban is rife and there is a long-standing ethnic Baluch rebel movement.

''The troops were returning from home leave when some unknown gunmen ambushed their van near a railway station and according to my information, nine people were killed, including six soldiers,'' Major-General Waheed Arshad told Reuters.

Five people were wounded in the attack, two critically, the military spokesman said.

Reuters DKS VP0224