News / Pakistan

Landmine blast kills 2 Pakistani coastguards in Balochistan

Saturday, 09 January 2016 2:05 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 09 January 2016 3:28 PM ]

File photo shows members of the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). BLA claimed responsibility for the blast targeting Pakistani forces in Balochistan Province on January 9, 2016.

A landmine explosion has killed at least two Pakistani coastguards in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

“Five guards were injured when their vehicle hit the landmine and two of them succumbed to their injuries later,” said Muhammad Anwar, a senior administration official in the area, on Saturday.

“The coastguards’ vehicle was part of a convoy which brings drinking water for them from Koldan town to the port of Gwadar daily,” he said.

Koldan is about 80 kilometers (47 miles) from the port of Gwadar.

Meerak Baloch, the spokesman for the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), said the separatist group was behind the blast. “We claim responsibility for this attack in Koldan. We will continue targeting Pakistani forces.”

Last month, one Pakistani soldier died and four others were injured in a bomb explosion at a paramilitary checkpoint in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan.

Pakistan’s restive and mineral-rich Balochistan Province is rife with separatist, extremist and sectarian violence and has been the scene of several bomb and gun attacks over the past years.

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