QUETTA, Pakistan — A Pakistani official says gunmen have killed a pro-government tribal elder and six members of his family in southwest Pakistan.

Abdul Jabbar says the incident took place on Tuesday in Loti village in Baluchistan province. The assailants shot to death the elder, Dhara Khan, along with two other men, two women and two children.

Loti is located in Dera Bugti district, which contains natural gas reserves and has been the center of a low-level insurgency by separatist groups for decades. The separatists demand greater autonomy and a larger share of the province's natural resources.

Jabbar, a senior official in Dera Bugti, said authorities were investigating who was behind the shooting.