18 soldiers, 24 militants killed in clashes in Pakistan’s Balochistan

Eighteen paramilitary soldiers and 24 militants were killed in fighting in south-western Pakistan, the military’s media wing said in a statement on Saturday.

The militants had tried to set up roadblocks overnight in the restive province of Balochistan and most of the deaths had taken place as security forces removed them, the military said.

Eleven of the militants were killed in what the military described as “clearance operations” on Saturday. It was not immediately clear which group the militants belonged to.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a statement condemned the attack.

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.

On Tuesday, in a separate incident, Islamist militants in an explosive-laden vehicle were thwarted in their attempt to overrun a Pakistani security post near the border with Afghanistan.

In August, at least 73 people were killed in Balochistan when separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines and highways and security forces launched retaliatory operations.