Army captain killed in SW Pakistan blast
12:08, 22/08/2021, Sunday
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File photo
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack
An army captain was killed and two soldiers were injured in a roadside explosion in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday, the military said.
An army vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in remote Gichik area, said a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations, the military's media wing.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but bombings against security forces have often been carried out by separatists in the mineral-rich province.
It came days after a suicide attack on a convoy of Chinese workers in Gwadar district, which killed at least two children playing nearby and injured a Chinese national.
Militants, which Islamabad accuses have backing from New Delhi, have also targeted the Chinese consulate and Pakistan Stock Exchange buildings in Karachi in the recent past.
The Balochistan province, Pakistan's largest, is a key route to the multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
The $64 billion megaproject aims to connect China's strategic northwestern Xinxiang province to the Gwadar seaport through a network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport cargo, oil, and gas.
