Attack by gunmen kills nine police officers killed in Pakistan province

ISLAMABAD — At least nine police officers have been killed, and several others are missing, after an attack by gunmen in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province, police and local officials have said.The attackers opened fire on police guarding the construction site of a multi-billion rupee dam in the Ziarat district, Deputy Commissioner Abdul Quddus Achakzai said.Two senior officers are among those killed, he added.The assailants also abducted eight police officers, but all were later recovered by security forces, said Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government.Paramilitary, police and counterterrorism personnel had “successfully carried out the joint clearance operations” against the fighters, killing 15 assailants, Rind said.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.Rind claimed that the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, were responsible, without providing evidence.Protests against the attack on police have been taking place along a national highway near the site of the incident.Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack, saying the killed officers were “the pride of our nation”.Officials say they were guarding the construction site of the Mangi Dam, which is being built to help overcome a water shortage facing Balochistan’s capital city of Quetta.The province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has seen unrest for decades, as local militant groups demand greater autonomy from the Pakistani government.The TPP, a separate movement from the Afghan Taliban, also maintains a strong presence in Balochistan and has fought for years to overthrow the government in Islamabad.Pakistan has for years been battling armed groups targeting state forces, foreign investment and infrastructure projects in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.In May, local officials said the Balochistan Liberation Army separatist group was behind an attack on a train transporting military personnel, which killed 20.The area has also seen cross-border attacks. Last week, Afghanistan’s Taliban regime said it had carried out strikes in the region, with Pakistan’s military saying it had shot down four drones.