New Delhi: Gunmen opened fire on government troops in a southwestern Pakistani city considered to be a hideout for Taliban leaders shortly after the visit of Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher.
Seven soldiers and two policemen who were escorting him were killed, the police said on Friday.
The troops were attacked as they drove toward a military cantonment in the city of Quetta just before midnight on Thursday, city police chief Rehmatullah Niazi said. Another five soldiers were wounded, he added.
The incident happened when unknown gunmen ambushed troops returning home.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and sources were unable to say who was behind the attack. Niazi has however, Niazi blamed the “enemies and terrorists” for the attacks.
He declined to speculate further on who might have been behind the shooting.
The police chief said Boucher had already left the city to return to Islamabad before the incident.
Earlier on Thursday, Jam Mohammed Yousaf, the top elected official in Baluchistan, had assured Boucher that al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Omar were not hiding in the area.
(With agency inputs)
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