18 Pakistani soldiers, 23 rebels killed in fierce armed attack

Pakistani troops fought insurgents who set up roadblocks in the restive northwestern region of Balochistan, leaving 18 paramilitary security forces and 23 rebels dead in some of the heaviest clashes in recent years, officials said Saturday.

The military said troops suffered casualties when they engaged the insurgents who erected barricades on a key highway in Kalat, bordering Afghanistan.

The security forces “successfully removed the roadblock” following the fighting overnight into Saturday morning, the military said in a statement.

It said 18 security personnel died during the operation and vowed that “the perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of this heinous and cowardly act, will be brought to justice.” Security forces recovered the bodies of 12 insurgents, the military said.

Troops also killed another 11 insurgents in an operation that was still underway, it said.

The latest attacks drew condemnation from President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other provincial leaders in Balochistan, who also praised the security forces for eliminating the “terrorists.”

Zardari and Sharif said the operations will continue in Balochistan until the insurgents are eliminated, reports AP.

The Baloch National Army separatist group claimed responsibility for attack.

In a statement, BLA said its fighters “have made significant progress in the Kalat attacks, achieving their targeted objectives.” It also claimed that insurgents attacked a military post in the district.

The BLA often targets security forces, civilians and foreigners, especially Chinese working on multibillion-dollar projects in Pakistan. In November, a BLA suicide bomber detonated at a train station in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff.

Since then, the military and police have stepped up operations against the insurgents in the oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan, which is a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.