Seven Pakistani soldiers shot dead

Gunmen stormed a checkpoint in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan on Saturday and shot dead seven soldiers, officials said.

"Armed men surrounded Pashookan post of Pakistan coast guards near the town of Gwadar and gunned down seven soldiers," local administration chief Sohailur Rehman said, adding that three other soldiers were wounded.

The assailants, believed to be about a dozen, fled on motorbikes after the shooting, another official Rehmat Dashti told AFP.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Baluchistan suffers from Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims and a separatist insurgency which also targets government officials and security agencies.

The impoverished province is one of the most deprived areas of Pakistan where Baluch rebels rose up in 2004, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the oil, gas and mineral resources in the region.

(AFP)