World News | In Pakistan, Attack on Store Selling National Flags Kills 1

Quetta (Pakistan), Aug 10 (AP) Suspected separatists hurled a hand grenade at a store selling Pakistani national flags in restive southwestern Baluchistan province, killing one man and wounding four people, officials said Tuesday.

No one has claimed responsibility for the late Monday night attack in Quetta, the provincial capital, according to Wasim Baig, a spokesman for the provincial health department.

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The separatist Baluch Liberation Army has claimed such attacks in the past. This year, it warned people not to celebrate Pakistan's Independence Day on August 14, marking the date in 1947 when Pakistan got independence from British colonial rule when India was divided.

Earlier this week, the same separatist group claimed responsibility for the killing of two policemen in a roadside bombing in Quetta, indicating an uptick in violence ahead of the holiday.

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On Tuesday in Quetta, security forces shot and killed five suspected separatists in an operation on the city's outskirts, the provincial counter-terrorism department said. It provided no further details.

Small separatist groups have been carrying out a long-running insurgency in the province, demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistan says it has quelled the insurgency in Baluchistan, violence has increased in recent months.

The province also shares a long border with Iran and Afghanistan, and the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group have also maintained a presence in Baluchistan. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)