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Insurgents killed 18 police officers who had been abducted earlier this week and 11 soldiers in a separate attack in restive southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, the military said. It was the latest escalation of violence in a region where insurgents have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians.The latest attacks bring the death toll since Monday to 42 people, most of them soldiers and police officers, military spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said.At a televised news conference, he said security forces had also killed 54 insurgents in multiple operations during the same period.Chaudhry said the 18 officers had been held captive since late Monday, when dozens of militants attacked a police post in Ziarat district in Balochistan province, killing nine other police officers. He said the attackers belonged to what govt calls Fitna al-Khawarij, a term it uses for the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army.
