Unknown gunmen in southwestern Pakistan ambushed and killed four members of the security forces on Wednesday.
Authorities say a vehicle of the paramilitary Frontier Corps had briefly stopped on a busy main road in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, when two men on a motorcycle ambushed and sprayed it with bullets.
A passerby was also seriously wounded, according to hospital sources. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.
The violence came a day after four police officers were gunned down in two separate ambushes in Quetta.
The extremist Pakistani Taliban, which is waging a deadly insurgency against the state, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attacks.
A low-level ethnic separatist insurgency and religiously-motivated attacks blamed on Islamist militants have long posed serious security challenges for the authorities.
Leaders and commanders of Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgency are also believed to be sheltering in the Pakistani border province and directing violence against Afghan forces.
Balochistan is where a U.S. drone attack last month killed the fugitive leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
