Officials: Pakistani forces kill 4 insurgents in southwest

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities say Pakistani security forces have shot and killed four insurgents in a raid on their hideout in the country’s volatile southwest. The Counter-Terrorism Department says the raid took place on Tuesday in the Kharan district in Baluchistan province. It says the slain men were members of the outlawed Baluchistan Liberation Army, designated a “terrorist” group by the United States in 2019. The government provided no further details. Baluchistan has for years been the scene of a low-level insurgency by small separatist groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistan claims it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted.