Five paramilitary soldiers killed in two separate attacks in Pakistan’s southwest

Pakistani security personnel take position after suicide bombers attacked a Methodist church during a Sunday service in Quetta, Pakistan, on December 17, 2017. (AFP/File)

• The underdeveloped province which borders Afghanistan and Iran has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency 
• Authorities often say they have quelled militancy in Balochistan but violent attacks continue regularly

ISLAMABAD: Five members of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps were killed, and two others injured, in two attacks in different parts of the southwestern Balochistan province, local media reported on Friday.
The restive and underdeveloped province which borders Afghanistan and Iran has been the scene of a low-level insurgency for decades. Although authorities often say they have quelled militancy in Balochistan, violent attacks continue.
“In one incident, which took place in the western bypass area of the provincial capital on Thursday, an FC soldier was martyred, and two others were injured when a remote-controlled bomb fixed to a motorcycle parked at the roadside exploded, as an FC vehicle was passing by,” the local Dawn newspaper reported.
“The bomb blast took place near the official vehicle of the Frontier Corps in which one FC soldier was martyred on the spot and two other soldiers were injured,” senior police officer Shaukat Mohmand told Dawn, saying the blast badly damaged the vehicle. “An improvised explosive device strapped to a motorcycle parked at the roadside was detonated with a remote control.”
In a second incident, four soldiers of the Frontier Corps perished in an attack by armed men on their check-post in the Kahan area of Kohlu district.
“Sources said the armed men opened fire on Zaman Khan check-post ... which resulted in the martyrdom of four FC soldiers while another was injured,” Dawn said.