6 Pakistani troops killed near Iran border

KARACHI, Pakistan

At least six Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near Iran’s border on Friday, the army said.

The blast targeted a reconnaissance vehicle carrying Frontier Corps (FC), a paramilitary force in the southwestern Balochistan province's mountainous Mekran region, some 14 kilometers (8.6 miles) from Iran’s border, said a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations, the Pakistani army's media wing.

The corps forces were there “to check possible routes used by terrorists in mountainous and extremely treacherous terrain of Mekran. As the FC South Balochistan troops were moving back to their base after assigned patrolling duty, reconnaissance vehicle of FC troops was targeted with (a) remote controlled IED," the statement said.

One officer and five soldiers were killed, while one soldier was injured, it added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack – the latest in a series of ambushes on security forces in the mineral-rich province, a key route of $64 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Balochistan, which is also considered to cover parts of neighboring Iran and Afghanistan, is strategically important because of the rich presence of copper, zinc, and natural gas but has beset by violence for over six decades, with separatists claiming that it was forcibly incorporated into Pakistan at the end of British rule in 1947.