Islamabad, March 20 (IANS): Militants attacked the convoy of a senior Pakistani officer and killed two of his guards in Balochistan province on Friday.

Armed militants attacked the convoy of Deputy Commissioner Kharan Raziq Dilawary in the Rachil area of Kharan district, Dawn online reported citing Dawood Khan, an official of the paramilitary force Balochistan Levies.

Two Levies personnel were killed and two others sustained bullet wounds in the attack, he said.

One attacker was killed and another was arrested when the Levies personnel retaliated, Khan said. More Levies personnel were called to the area.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack; however, Levies officials suspect that a Baloch separatist militant group in the area was responsible for the attack.

The northern parts of Balochistan bordering Afghanistan have been in the grip of violence since the launch of a crackdown against militants in the aftermath of the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.

In retaliation to the security forces' search operations and arrests, militant outfits have been attacking security forces and kidnapping officials from the area.