Pakistan army foils militant attempt to take security post in Balochistan

Islamist militants in an explosive-laden vehicle were thwarted in their attempt to overrun a Pakistani security post near the border with Afghanistan, the army said on Tuesday.

The five attackers, including two suicide bombers, were killed when the post came under attack in Qila Abdullah district in the southwestern province of Balochistan, the military said in a statement.

"The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted by our own troops," it said, adding that the Pakistani troops forced the militants to ram the explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the post. Two soldiers were killed, it said.

The mineral-rich province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the scene of a decade-old insurgency by separatist ethnic Baloch groups and Islamist militants also operate there.

Islamabad says the militants use Afghan soil to train and plan attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.