6 Pakistan soldiers killed as militants target convoy in Balochistan

At least six Pakistani soldiers were killed on Friday in a blast in the southwestern province of Balochistan, news agency PTI reported.

The soldiers were part of Pakistan's paramilitary forces. They came under attack after militants targeted their convoy while the personnel were on routine patrol.

The incident took place at Kuch area of Turbat district.

"The militants targeted a vehicle of the security forces and six soldiers of the Frontier Corps were martyred in the bomb blast," the army said in a statement.

In a separate incident in the same area, four militants were killed in an exchange of fire when Pakistani forces raided their hideout during an anti-terror operation.

Mineral-rich Balochistan province borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to ethnic, Islamist and political insurgencies.

China is investing in the area under a $54-billion project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), upgrading infrastructure, power and transport links between its far-western Xinjiang region and Pakistan's Gwadar port.

Thousands of paramilitary troops are deployed in troubled areas of the country to carry out security checks and to help police in maintaining law and order.

Violence in Pakistan has dropped significantly since the country's deadliest-ever militant attack, an assault on a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar in 2014 that killed more than 150 people, most of them children.

(With inputs from news agencies)