Four Police Officers Killed İn Southwest Pakistan

by Aamir LatifISLAMABAD (AA) - Four policemen have been shot dead in an attack on their patrol van by armed assailants in a district about 300km from Quetta, the capital of conflict-ridden Baluchistan province, officials have said.The van was on a routine patrol when it was ambushed in the town of Chattar town, 36km from Dera Murad Jamali district, city police chief Ali Akbar Magsi told Anadolu Agency on Thursday."Gunmen were hiding behind the bushes along the road. They attacked the vehicle from two sides, killing four policemen on the spot", he said.Five policemen, including a senior officer, were injured on Tuesday in a bomb attack at the same site.There was no immediate word of responsibility for the attack, however security agencies said they believed it was carried out by secular Baluch separatists who have been involved in several attacks on security forces in Baluch-dominated parts of the province.- Fierce rebellionGovernment forces have faced a fierce rebellion in Baluchistan, which is rich in copper, gold, and natural gas, for decades.Baluch separatists who have been fighting for the "liberation" of Baluchistan claim it was forcibly incarcerated into Pakistan at the time of the partition of united India in August 1947.The province has witnessed various spates of insurgency from Baluch separatists in the last 66 years.The ongoing wave of insurgency was triggered when Nawab Akbar Bugti, a veteran Baluch politician and former governor and chief minister of the province, was killed in 2006 in a military operation launched on the orders of former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf.Musharraf is currently facing trial for Bugti's murder.englishnews@aa.com.tr - İslamabad