Pakistan forces kill four Baloch insurgents in Karachi raid

Karachi: Pakistani paramilitary forces on Saturday killed at least four members of a Baluch insurgent group in the port city of Karachi, officials said.

The incident happened in the impoverished neighbourhood of old Golimar where paramilitary Rangers had launched a targeted operation against the proscribed Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) on an intelligence tip-off.

"The criminals opened indiscriminate fire on the Rangers, prompting the force to fire back which killed four notorious BLA terrorists," Rangers spokesman Major Sibtain Rizvi told AFP.

He said six insurgents were also arrested during the operation, adding they were all involved in anti-state activities and targeted killings.

The BLA mainly operates in resource-rich Baluchistan, the largest of Pakistan`s four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

Rebels began their fifth insurgency against the state in 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.

The incident came days after massacre of 44 minority Shiite Ismaili Muslims in Karachi Wednesday in the first attack officially claimed by the Islamic State group in the country.

Wednesday`s attack was the second-deadliest in Pakistan this year after 62 Shiite Muslims were killed in a suicide bombing in late January.

Karachi, a city of 20 million people, is wracked by violence and targeted shootings are a near-daily occurrence, either for robbery or for religious, political or ethnic reasons.