Shootout with militants in northwest Pakistan kills 2 troops

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities say a shootout with militants in northwestern Pakistan killed two soldiers. Also on Saturday in Pakistan, counterterrorism officers arrested a suspect involved in the recent killing of a former top judge of the restive southwestern Baluchistan province. According to a military statement, the shootout took place in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which for many years had been a stronghold of various Islamic militant groups. The statement said that after an intensive exchange of fire, in which two soldiers were fatally wounded, a military action was undertaken to eliminate the fleeing militants. The suspect arrested in Baluchistan meanwhile is wanted in the killing of Baluchistan’s former chief justice, Noor Mohammad Meskanzai.