Thirteen people were killed in Pakistan during a night of fighting between paramilitaries who attacked their base and unidentified gunmen who took families hostage, the Pakistani military said on Sunday.

“Well-equipped” militants attacked a security forces base in the town of Muslim Bagh in the southwestern province of Balochistan and took members of three families hostage, the military said.

Fighting raged from Friday night into Saturday morning, according to the military’s communications and public relations service.

According to the same source, the six attackers, six members of the security forces and a civilian were killed. Six other people, including a woman, were injured.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the action so far.

Baloch separatist groups have waged a guerrilla war in this Pakistani province for decades and often target security forces.

The Taliban Movement of Pakistan (TTP) is also active in the province.

The funerals of some of the victims were held in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, last Saturday.

On the same day, a Baloch separatist group claimed responsibility for an attack on members of the security forces protecting a group that was prospecting for oil and gas fields further south, in Kalat, also in Baluchistan province.