Insurgent clashes kill at least 41 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Gun battles between paramilitary troops and militants in Pakistan's troubled southwest killed at least 41 people Sunday, including nine soldiers, the state-run news agency reported.

The fighting in the province of Balochistan is not connected to an ongoing military offensive in the country's northwest, which also has claimed dozens of lives.

Balochistan is rich in natural gas, and insurgents there have been fighting Pakistani military forces for self-rule. For years, they have complained that the government has paid little attention to them and their economic needs.

After militants in the province attacked a convoy of soldiers Saturday, security forces launched an offensive in the district of Dera Bugti, local media said.

Dera Bugti is home to four major gas fields and was once the operational base for rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed in a military raid in 2006.

By Sunday, the clashes claimed 41 lives, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Nine were soldiers with the Frontier Corps, which uses recruits from Pakistan's tribal areas and is overseen by Pakistani army officers. One was an engineer with Pakistan Petroleum Limited. The rest were militants, APP said.

Over the years, militant attacks in the province have killed hundreds. The fighting had quieted after Bugti's death.

Pakistan has said the militants in Balochistan -- near the Afghan border -- do not have links to the Islamic hardliners who have launched assaults in other parts of the country.

Recently, the province has seen an influx of Afghan refugees. And Afghanistan's government believes key Taliban leaders may be hiding among them.

Soon after the ruling Pakistan People's Party swept into power in February elections, it called for an end to military operations in the province.

It said it would work toward giving "maximum provincial autonomy" to the area.

"The PPP on behalf of the people of Pakistan apologizes to the people of the province of Balochistan for the atrocities and injustices committed against them and pledges to embark on a new highway of healing and mutual respect," the party said in a press release.

Just as in Balochistan, Pakistan's civilian government is negotiating with tribal leaders in the lawless border region in the northwest. At the same time, the military is in the midst of an offensive in the North West Frontier Province -- the biggest push against extremists in the tribal region since the government took power.

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