By Saleem Ahmed
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Militants stormed a paramilitary checkpoint in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing seven troops, the latest in a series of attacks by separatist insurgents, police said.
The early morning attack in the mountainous Kalat district, about 150 km south of Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan province, lasted several hours, police officer Habib-ur-Rehman said.
Another 18 injured paramilitary soldiers, some in critical condition, were admitted to local hospitals, he said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack.
The separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said in an email to a Reuters reporter that its fighters had attacked the checkpoint.
The group has recently stepped up its activities, claiming last week a suicide bombing that targeted Pakistani army troops at a train station minutes before they were due to board a train to return home for vacation. 27 people were killed, including 19 soldiers wearing civilian clothes.
The group also claimed a suicide bombing outside Karachi's southern international airport last month that killed two Chinese engineers.
The BLA and several other militant groups have been fighting for a separate homeland for decades to seize a larger part of the mineral- and resource-rich province of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
The region is home to Gwadar Port, built by China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment in President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to strengthen global to expand China's reach by road, rail and sea. .
(Reporting by Saleem Ahmed; Additional reporting by Saud Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
