QUETTA: Pakistani forces have killed five suspected separatists in the southwestern Baluchistan province.

Provincial home minister Sarfaraz Bugti said Saturday that the paramilitary Frontier Corps killed the suspected militants overnight in an operation near Quetta, the provincial capital.

Bugti identified the slain commander of the group as Abdul Mannan, saying he was a medical doctor who was part of the Baloch Nationalist Movement and had been involved in attacks on security forces.

Baloch nationalists have waged a low-intensity insurgency for years, demanding autonomy or outright independence for the mineral and gas-rich province.