Four police officers were killed on Tuesday during clashes with militants in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police confirmed, hours after four people died in a bomb blast in the region's capital.

Officials said militants identified by police as being from the Pakistan Taliban opened fire on a pre-dawn patrol in Kuchlak, and were still on the run.

"Militants opened fire on a police team from a compound killing four policemen," senior local police official Muhammad Zohaib told AFP.

"One terrorist was also killed during the exchange of fire, while the remainder escaped," he noted.

Counter-terrorism department official Aitzaz Goraya said that the militants were from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is separate from Afghanistan's Taliban but shares a similar ideology.

The TTP had agreed with the Pakistani government on a ceasefire in June 2022. However, both parties have made several claims that the truce was ignored, with numerous clashes taking place.

On Monday four people were killed -- two police and two civilians -- by a motorcycle bomb in a busy market of Balochistan's capital, Quetta.

That attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army.

Pakistan has been battling a years-long insurgency by militants in Balochistan who are demanding a bigger share of the province's wealth, as well as attacks by the Pakistan Taliban.

It is noteworthy that China is investing in the area under a $54 billion project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, upgrading infrastructure, power, and transport links between its far-western Xinjiang region and Pakistan's Gwadar port.

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