QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen targeted a security check post and killed four members of the Levies paramilitary force in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Saturday.

The attack targeted the Samand post located some 20 kilometers from Khuzdar city in wee hours of Saturday, according to Deputy Commissioner Yasir Iqbal Dashti. Four Levies men were killed as a result of an intense exchange of gunfire.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault but suspicion is likely to fall on Baloch separatists who have intensified their attacks in the province over the last one year.

“The attackers managed to flee by taking advantage of the dark and the bodies of the slain troops were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Khuzdar,” Dashti told Arab News.

“Security forces have surrounded the area and a hunt for the attackers is underway.”

Balochistan, Pakistan’s most impoverished province, has been the site of a decades-old insurgency, where separatist militants often target security forces, police, foreigners and ethnic Punjabi commuters and workers, who they see as “outsiders,” by wresting control of highways and remote towns.

In Jan., dozens of fighters of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group launched a brazen attack on Khuzdar’s Zehri town and seized control of its main market for hours. The militants had set government buildings ablaze and snatched Levies’ vehicles and weapons.

This month, gunmen killed three people, including two barbers from the eastern Punjab province, and set a police vehicle ablaze in Balochistan’s Lasbela district, officials said.

The separatists accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper, and accuse foreigners and people from other province of backing the Pakistani state. Successive Pakistani governments have denied the allegations and said they only worked for the uplift of the region and its people.

KARACHI: Medical experts treating two elephants diagnosed with tuberculosis at Karachi’s Safari Park said on Friday the animals were responding well to treatment and remained under constant observation as part of a long-term recovery plan.

The update was shared at a news briefing by Dr. Budhika Bhandara, a wildlife health specialist from Sri Lanka, who was on a 17-day visit in Karachi to supervise the treatment of elephants Madhubala and Malika.

The two elephants were diagnosed with TB earlier this month, prompting the park to launch an intensive treatment program under international protocols.

“We are treating them very well,” Dr. Bhandara told reporters. “The elephants are showing clinical signs, but they are not weak. We have started with a two-month initial phase of daily doses, followed by a continuation phase as per the standard operating procedures.”

Under the treatment plan, the elephants will receive continuous medication and monitoring for ten months after the initial phase.

The animals are being kept under round-the-clock supervision, and park officials have restricted access to the enclosure for one year to minimize stress and prevent any risk of disease transmission.

Dr. Bhandara, who has previously treated 15 elephants for TB, expressed optimism that Madhubala and Malika would recover.

He noted that both elephants are closely monitored and undergo health evaluations every two months, with full medical screenings scheduled every six months. Their most recent dose was administered 13 days ago.

Visitors to the Safari Park are currently only allowed to view the elephants from designated buses or a safe distance, as part of efforts to ensure a stress-free environment during their recovery.

The cautious approach follows years of concern raised by international animal welfare organizations over the treatment of elephants in Karachi.

In 2021, the global group Four Paws assessed the city’s African elephants and called for urgent medical care, improved nutrition and enriched environments to support their wellbeing.

The issue gained further attention after the deaths of two elephants — Noor Jehan in 2023 at the Karachi Zoo and Sonia in late 2024 — both of which highlighted systemic gaps in animal care.

Since then, local authorities have taken steps to improve conditions, including the formation of a technical committee and increased collaboration with foreign veterinary experts.