Thirteen people were killed during clashes at a security base between special forces and unidentified militants who took families hostage, the Pakistani army announced today (Sunday). The army said in a statement that “well-equipped” fighters stormed the security base in the town of Muslim Bagh in the southwestern province of Balochistan and captured 3 families in a residential building.
The army’s media office said in a statement: “The clashes continued from Friday evening to Saturday morning.”
He added that the 6 attackers were killed along with 6 members of the government security forces and one civilian, and 6 others, including a woman, were wounded.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but Baloch separatist movements have waged a decades-old insurgency against the state in the region, often targeting security forces, and the Pakistani Taliban are active in the region.
Some of the dead were buried in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, yesterday. The Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist group, claimed responsibility for an attack on Pakistani security forces guarding an oil and gas exploration team to the south, in the Qalat region of Balochistan province.
