Arrests after Pakistan gun attack

Most of the dead were soldiers returning from leave

Police in the Pakistani city of Quetta say they have arrested 12 people in connection with an attack which left nine dead, most of them soldiers.

A local rebel group said it had carried out Thursday's gun attack on a military vehicle.

The shooting happened hours after a visit to Quetta by the US assistant secretary of state, Richard Boucher.

He was briefed about the south-western province's grievances over access to its mineral and energy reserves.

Opposition leaders and rebels say the resources are appropriated by the central government and Balochistan province has not benefited from them.

A BBC correspondent in Islamabad says these feelings have fuelled the insurgency, claiming hundreds of lives and forcing hundreds of people to migrate.

'Ambushed'

The gunmen ambushed a military vehicle near a railway station. Police say four people were wounded in the attack.

"The troops were returning from home leave when some unknown gunmen ambushed their van near a railway station and according to my information, nine people were killed," Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told Reuters news agency.

Quetta police chief Rehmatullah Niazi said the gunmen attacked the van carrying soldiers at about midnight and fled the scene.

The Reuters news agency earlier reported that a man claiming to speak for the Balochistan Liberation Army, a guerrilla group, called a press club in Quetta to claim responsibility for the attack.

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, which has witnessed frequent attacks on security forces and gas pipelines by tribal rebels demanding greater autonomy and a larger share of the profits from natural resources.