Five people, including a policeman, were killed, and two others injured in an armed militant attack on a police station in Pakistan, reports said on Thursday.
The reports, quoting police sources, said that about 20 militants attacked the Naseerabad Police Station in the Turbat area of Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province.
A district Police official confirmed the incident, saying constables Essa and Hassan tried to engage the attackers, but the former was killed as they opened fire while Hassan was overpowered.
The attacker also stole weapons belonging to two policemen, they said.
The other four people killed in the attack were laborers who had come to spend the night at the police station following police advise after a previous attack on October 14 in satellite town of Turbat by unidentified gunmen.
Meanwhile, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the reports said.
It is widely believed that these attacks are orchestrated by Balochi nationalists, targeting workers from the neighboring Punjab province who seek employment in Balochistan. The Baloch extremists argue that these outsiders, primarily from Punjab, not only usurp local job opportunities but also exploit regional resources, thus making them their prime targets.
Balochistan caretaker Chief Minister Ali Mardan Khan Domki termed the attack “condemnable and intolerable”.
"No religion in the world allows terrorism,” the reports quoted him as saying.
Previously, insurgent groups in Balochistan carried out several attacks targeting the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects.