Pak forces kill 13 Baluchistan rebels

Around 1,000 Pakistani paramilitary troops backed by helicopters are battling separatists in the country's restive southwest, with the rebel death toll rising to 13 yesterday on the second day of fighting. The clash with separatists began in the area of a gasfield in Pirkoh, some 245 kilometres southeast of Quetta which is wracked by a tribal insurgency, Taliban attacks and sectarian violence.