Spokesman Murtaza Baig says the attacker detonated his explosives early on Saturday after he was stopped at the checkpoint in a Quetta suburb. The killed troops were members of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps.

Baluchistan province and its capital, Quetta, have been the scene of an insurgency by Baluch nationalists who are demanding greater rights and share from the income generated from gas and minerals extracted from the province. Various Baluch groups are blamed for attacks on the province’s security forces and are suspected of targeting other ethnic groups in the region.

Islamist Taleban militants and the extremist group Lashker-e-Jhangvi are also active in the province.