Attack on Pakistan security convoy kills 14: sources

A security convoy in southern Pakistan came under attack on Friday, an official said, with sources adding that 14 troops were killed.

"There was an attack on a security forces convoy along the coastal highway," Saeed Ahmad Umrani, a senior government official in Balochistan province, told AFP.

"Our teams are arriving at the area to collect the details."

A military official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said 14 troops were killed.

Images seen by AFP from sources showed burned bodies strewn across the road.

The attack happened near the Balochistan fishing town of Pasni on a highway that follows the coastline from the Iranian border to the mega city of Karachi.

Balochistan is home to a decades-long insurgency by ethnic Baloch guerrillas fighting the government over accusations of exploiting the province's rich gas and mineral resources.

Baloch people have long complained they do not get a fair share of the province's profits, giving rise to several separatist groups.

A bomb blast earlier in the day targeting a police van in northwestern Pakistan killed five civilians and wounded 21 people, officials said.

The attack happened in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border where militancy has spiked in recent months.

ALSO READ:

• Cricket World Cup 2023: Australia's Maxwell silences critics with stunning hundred

• 5 civilians killed, 21 wounded in bomb blast targeting Pakistan police

• World