Six troops, rebels killed in Pakistan

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QUETTA, July 21 (AFP): Six Pakistani paramilitary troops and a "big number" of separatist insurgents were killed in clashes in troubled southwestern Pakistan at the weekend, a senior security official said Monday.

Security forces launched an operation against rebel camps in gas-rich Baluchistan province after a convoy of Frontier Corps soldiers came under attack on Saturday, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Impoverished Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been wracked by an insurgency waged by ethnic Baluch tribes seeking more political rights and a greater share of profits from the region's natural resources.