QUETTA: Fourteen soldiers were killed Monday in an ambush blamed on separatist rebels in Baluchistan province, the Frontier Corps paramilitary force said.
It was one of the deadliest attacks on troops and marked the highest number of military dead in a single incident since March when friendly fire killed 13 soldiers on the northwestern border with Afghanistan.
The military said the troops were guarding a private coal mine and blamed the attack on Baluch rebels, who rose up in 2004 to demand political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the province's wealth of natural resources.
"Fourteen paramilitary personnel, including a major, were killed and several others were wounded. Baluch militants were involved," the spokesman told AFP.
Security officials said the rebels were armed with automatic weapons and that most of the soldiers died from gunshot wounds in the remote area.
The scene of Monday's attack was not far from Sui town, where two other soldiers were killed in a bombing on Saturday.
Last month, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the government planned to create 20,000 jobs in Balochistan, admitting that past neglect of the region had fuelled its troubles.
He announced a six percent employment quota in some federal government departments and the introduction of 3,000 jobs in tribal police for Baluchistan residents.
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