Roadside bomb kills four Pakistani soldiers and wounds five in Balochistan province
- Balochistan is a major part of a Beijing-backed multibillion-dollar infrastructure drive known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
- The Pakistani military has been fighting a low-level insurgency for decades in the province
At least four soldiers were killed and five wounded when their vehicle was blown up by a bomb in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Wednesday, officials said.
The incident took place in the afternoon while the soldiers, from Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), were on patrol in Kohlu district, some 200 kilometres (186 miles) southeast of the provincial capital Quetta, a spokesman for the force said.
“Four soldiers from FC were killed and five wounded, condition of three of them was critical,” the spokesman said, adding that the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device. Two senior government officials in Quetta confirmed the incident and the details.
The Pakistani military has been fighting a low-level insurgency for decades in the province. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ethnic Baloch separatists have been waging an insurgency for years in the region, which is also split by Islamist and sectarian violence. Pakistan has long blamed India for backing Baloch separatists.
