Pakistan: Militants kill four cops in Balochistan gunbattle

Four policemen were killed on Tuesday in a gunbattle with militants in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police said, hours after four people died in a bomb blast in the region's capital.

Militants identified by police as being from the Pakistan Taliban opened fire on a pre-dawn patrol in Kuchlak, officials said, and were still on the run.

“Militants opened fire on a police team from a compound killing four policemen,” senior local police official Muhammad Zohaib told AFP.

“One terrorist was also killed during the exchange of fire, while the remainder escaped.”

Counter-terrorism department official Aitzaz Goraya said the militants were from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is separate from Afghanistan’s Taliban but shares a similar ideology.

On Monday four people were killed — two police and two civilians — by a motorcycle bomb in a busy market of Balochistan's capital, Quetta.

That attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army.

Pakistan has been battling a years-long insurgency by militants in Balochistan who are demanding a bigger share of the province’s wealth, as well as attacks by the Pakistan Taliban.

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