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At least four soldiers were killed and five wounded when their vehicle was blown up by a bomb in 's southwestern 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 southeast of the provincial capital Quetta, a spokesman for the force told AFP.

"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 riven by Islamist and sectarian violence.

Pakistan has long blamed India for backing Baloch separatists.

Balochistan is also a major part of a Beijing-backed multi-billion-dollar infrastructure drive known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Baloch separatists have also previously claimed attacks on CPEC projects, and thousands of Pakistani security personnel are deployed in the region to counter the violence.

Agencies contributed to this report.