By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
At least 13 separatist militants and a paramilitary troop have been killed in clashes in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province.
Khan Wasey, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps government paramilitary, told Anadolu Agency that security forces were conducting search operations against Baluch separatists in the coastal Turbat district on Tuesday when they clashed with the militants.
It followed deadly infighting between two rival separatists groups in Baluchistan's Kohlu district on Sunday, which killed more than 20 people.
Baluch separatists claim the province was forcibly annexed by Pakistan at the end of British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
The region, which also extends into Iran and Afghanistan, is rich in copper, zinc and natural gas but has been beset by violence between separatists and security forces for more than six decades.
