Pakistan army foils militant attempt to take security post in Balochistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) -Islamist militants in an explosive-laden vehicle were thwarted in their attempt to overrun a Pakistani security post near the border with Afghanistan, the army said on Tuesday.

The five attackers, including two suicide bombers, were killed when the post came under attack in Qila Abdullah district in the southwestern province of Balochistan, the military said in a statement.

"The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted by our own troops," it said, adding that the Pakistani troops forced the militants to ram the explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the post. Two soldiers were killed, it said.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella alliance for Sunni militant groups, claimed responsibility for the attack in a WhatsApp message shared with a Reuters' reporter.

The mineral-rich province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the scene of a decade-old insurgency by separatist ethnic Baloch groups and Islamist militants also operate there.

Islamabad says the militants use Afghan soil to train and plan attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.

The TTP has been waging an armed insurgency in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with one that rules according to Sharia, or Islamic law.

It has accelerated its attacks, particularly targeting Pakistani security forces, since revoking a ceasefire late 2022.

(Reporting by Saleem Ahmed in Quetta; additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; writing by Asif Shahzad;Editing by Alison Williams and Sharon Singleton)

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