The attacker targeted a convoy of paramilitary troops yesterday in southwestern Balochistan province, where security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which is fighting for the province’s independence, said in a statement that it “conducted a special mission successfully targeting the vehicle” in Kalat district.

It did not mention the gender of the bomber.

Local government official Bilal Shabbir told AFP that “at least one Frontier Corps (FC) soldier was killed, and four others were injured when a female suicide bomber targeted an FC convoy”.

Female suicide bombers are rare in Pakistan but the BLA, the most active group in the region, has carried out attacks with women fighters in the past.

The group has targeted energy projects with foreign financing – most notably from China – accusing the military of exploiting the resource-rich but impoverished region.

“The valuable natural resources in Balochistan belong to the Baloch nation,” the BLA statement said.

“Pakistani military generals and their Punjabi elite are looting these resources for their own luxury.”

It “strongly warned” all foreign investors not to participate in the “exploitation of occupied Balochistan’s resources”.

Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, including 685 members of the police or security forces, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.

The violence is largely limited to the country’s border regions with Afghanistan, with attacks in major cities increasingly rare.

In November, separatists claimed responsibility for a bombing at Quetta’s main railway station that killed at least 26 people, including 14 soldiers.

And last August, the BLA claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks by dozens of assailants who killed at least 39 people, one of the highest tolls to hit the region.