PESHAWAR – Militants killed six Pakistani soldiers in a shootout, the army said Saturday, the latest unrest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan where armed groups including the Pakistani Taliban are active.
The troops died in an overnight operation in North Waziristan district on Saturday, according to an army statement. It said six militants also were killed.
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The army said a separate operation killed two militants in Swat, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One of them was said to be involved in an attack on a convoy of foreign ambassadors in the area earlier this month.
Also Saturday, cellphone services remained suspended in Islamabad as it entered a second day of a lockdown aimed at thwarting rallies in support of ex-leader Imran Khan. He is in prison on multiple charges.
Shipping containers blocked off the city’s entry and exit points, but videos from Khan’s PTI party showed supporters piled into vehicles and attempted to head toward Islamabad.
The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, and others in the convoy worked throughout the night to remove shipping containers from the road, according to the party.
The PTI later said that security forces arrested Gandapur for entering Islamabad in defiance of a ban on rallies. Police and officials did not immediately confirm the arrest.
Clashes broke out between Khan supporters and security forces in D-Chowk, which is close to several key government buildings including Parliament and the Supreme Court.
The PTI also said it planned to hold a rally in Lahore.
As well as grappling with political instability arising from confrontations with Khan's party, Pakistani authorities are struggling to contain violence in southwestern Balochistan province, where a blast killed three security personnel and injured four others on Saturday.
Police official Habib ur Rahman said members of the Frontier Corps were on a routine patrol in Kalat district, around 160 kilometers (44 miles) south of the provincial capital Quetta, when a homemade bomb was remotely detonated.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.