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At least nine police officers have been killed, and several are missing, after an attack by gunmen in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province, a local government official has told BBC Urdu.<\/b><\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Two senior officers are among those killed, and a search operation is under way to find missing personnel, he added.<\/p>\n
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Balochistan officials said security forces had killed 15 members of the Pakistani Taliban (TPP) in response, as part of a “clearance operation” in Ziarat.<\/p>\n
Protests against the attack on police have been taking place along a national highway near the site of the incident.<\/p>\n
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack, saying the killed officers were “the pride of our nation”. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has seen unrest for decades, as local militant groups demand greater autonomy from the Pakistani government.<\/p>\n
In May, local officials said the Balochistan Liberation Army separatist group was behind an attack on a train transporting military personnel<\/a>, which killed 20.<\/p>\n The area has also seen cross-border attacks. Last week, Afghanistan’s Taliban regime said it had carried out strikes in the region<\/a>, with Pakistan’s military saying it had shot down four drones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n