More than a dozen people were killed in an overnight battle between Pakistan paramilitary troops and militants who stormed their base and took families hostage, the army said.
"Well equipped" fighters assaulted a Frontier Corps compound in Muslim Bagh, Balochistan province, and captured three families in a residential block, the military said.
Fighting raged from Friday (12) evening until Saturday (13) morning and "the complex clearance operation involved hostage rescue operation", the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but ethnic Baloch separatist groups have for decades waged a rebellion against the state in the southwestern province, frequently targeting security forces.
The Pakistan Taliban is also active in the region.
"The terrorists had not even spared children" in their hostage-taking, ISPR said. All six militants who breached the compound were killed, it said.
Seven "sons of the soil" - a term generally used for state security forces - were killed but one individual was a civilian, ISPR said.
Six more people, including a woman, were wounded.
A funeral service for some of the men killed was held in Balochistan's provincial capital Quetta on Saturday.
Separately on Saturday, the ethnic separatist Baloch Liberation Army claimed to have staged an attack on security forces guarding an oil and gas survey team further south in Balochistan's Kalat region.
Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic uptick in attacks since the Afghan Taliban surged back to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.
The assaults have been focussed on regions abutting Afghanistan, and Islamabad alleges some are being planned on Afghan soil.
In January, a suicide bomber linked to Pakistan's Taliban blew himself up in a mosque inside a police compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 officers.
(AFP)
13 killed in Pakistan security base hostage-taking attack
Fighting raged until Saturday morning and the complex clearance operation involved hostage rescue operation, says Pakistan military
Clifford had previously denied killing Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters, Louise Hunt, 25, and Hannah Hunt, 28. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads guilty to crossbow murders of BBC presenter’s family
A 26-YEAR-OLD man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to murdering two daughters of a BBC sports commentator and stabbing to death their mother in a crossbow attack.
Kyle Clifford had previously denied killing Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters, Louise Hunt, 25, and Hannah Hunt, 28.
However, appearing via video link at Cambridge Crown Court in eastern England, Clifford changed his pleas.
The court heard that Clifford tied up Louise Hunt, his former partner, binding her arms and ankles with duct tape before shooting her in the chest with a crossbow at the family home last July.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, one count of false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons. However, Clifford denied raping Louise.
The murders took place at the family home in the commuter town of Bushey, near Watford, northwest of London.
Clifford was arrested in July following a manhunt after the bodies of the three women were discovered.
(With inputs from AFP)