A Pakistani soldier is killed by a female suicide bomber, while four others are injured

In Balochistan, amid regional security tensions, a female suicide bomber killed a Pakistani soldier and wounded four others. Officials reported Monday that a female suicide bomber in the southwestern region of Balochistan killed a member of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps and wounded four others.

“A Frontier Corps soldier was killed and four others were injured in the suicide attack carried out by a female suicide bomber,” said Bilal Shabbir, the deputy commissioner of Kalat District, the area where the attack took place.

No organization has taken credit for the assault. However, insurgency has long been a problem in Balochistan, where a number of ethnic militant groups claim that the central government has been abusing the province’s mineral and gas wealth while keeping the local populace in poverty.

Female militants have been used in attacks by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of the separatist organizations active in the area. This strategy is unusual in the majority of suicide bombings in the region, which are usually carried out by men.

Violence in the area is still going strong at the time of the attack. Separatist rebels carried out coordinated attacks on police stations, railroad tracks, and highways in August, which prompted security forces to conduct counter operations that claimed at least 73 lives.

Fearing that the insurgency will worsen, authorities in Balochistan have increased security.