Militants' ambush kills 9 in southwest Pakistan

Quetta, Pakistan, June 15: Militants ambushed a vehicle, 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, Baluchistan's provincial capital, 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.

''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 sources.

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

A man claiming to speak for the Baluchistan Liberation Army, a shadowy guerrilla group, telephoned a press club in Quetta to claim responsibility for the attack.

Baluch rebels have waged a low-key insurgency for decades for autonomy and a larger share of the profits from resources in Pakistan's biggest but poorest province.

They frequently attack gas pipelines, electricity infrastructure and transport links in the province of deserts and barren mountains bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

They also attack security forces, but have no links with Islamist insurgents also fighting government forces along the Afghan border.

President Pervez Musharraf has promised to develop Baluchistan. He has also offered amnesties for rebels who give up while vowing tough action against those who do not.

Reuters

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