Gunmen kill 2 policemen in attack in southwestern Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen attacked a police post in Pakistan’s insurgency-hit southwestern Baluchistan province on Tuesday, triggering a shootout that killed two officers, police said, the latest sign of increasing violence in the country.

Barkat Baloch, a government administrator, said a search was underway for the assailants who fled after the attack in Mastung, a district in Baluchistan.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the shooting, but previous such attacks have been blamed on Baluch separatists and Islamic militants who have a strong presence in the province and elsewhere in Pakistan.

Baluchistan has witnessed a low-level insurgency by small groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence persists in the province.