File Photo. Hasham Ahmed—AFP
Gunmen targeted police on routine patrol in Chattar town.
Gunmen shot dead four policemen Thursday in Balochistan province, which has been hit by an insurgency for almost a decade, officials said.
The shooting took place when police on routine patrol were passing from the town of Chattar in Naseerabad district.
“Four policemen were martyred when two gunmen on a motorcycle ambushed their vehicle in Chattar area,” said local police station chief Ali Hassan. The police were on patrol when they were attacked, Hassan said, adding that nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the shooting. A senior district administration official Aghan Khuda-e-Dad confirmed the incident.
Balochistan is home to a long-running separatist conflict that was revived in 2004, with nationalists seeking to stop what they see as the exploitation of the region’s natural resources and alleged rights abuses. Spread over an unforgiving landscape of mountains and deserts abutting Iran and Afghanistan, the province is rich in gas and mineral deposits—adding a financial dimension to the battle.