Gunmen kill 9 police officers near dam project in southwest Pakistan

QUETTA: Gunmen killed nine police officers, and others are missing, following an attack on a checkpost at a dam project in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Tuesday.

“Nine policemen are dead and many are missing after an attack on a checkpost that was guarding the Mangi Dam project,” Abdul Qudoos, a senior district official, told AFP.

A spokesman for the provincial government confirmed the toll, saying senior officers from several police stations were among the dead and blaming the attack on Islamist militants.

Paramilitary, police and counter-terrorism personnel had “successfully carried out the joint clearance operations” against the militants, Balochistan’s government spokesman Shahid Rind said in a statement.

Pakistan has for years been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan, where militants target state forces and foreign investment and infrastructure projects in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

That is part of intensifying militant attacks in Pakistan’s border regions, which Islamabad says emanate from Afghanistan – where authorities have repeatedly denied any involvement.

Pakistan has launched airstrikes on Afghan territory in recent months that it says targets militants but that Taliban government officials and the UN say have killed dozens of civilians.