ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces killed 17 militants in multiple operations in the southwestern Balochistan province, the military said on Tuesday, adding that a paramilitary troop was also killed during a gunfight with militants.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a long-running separatist insurgency that has intensified in recent years.

In an operation in Balochistan’s Kachhi district, security forces foiled a militant attempt to establish a roadblock, killing 10 insurgents, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.

Another seven militants were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces during an intelligence-based operation to clear militant hideouts in Kharan district. The gunfight also left Sepoy Hikmat Ullah of Frontier Corps paramilitary dead.

“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored terrorist found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.

There was no immediate response from India to the statement.

It came nearly a week after five militants were killed in a joint security operation in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district, an official said. Pakistan’s military said last month that an army major and four separatist militants were killed in multiple operations in the province.

The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.

Islamabad has frequently accused India of backing militant groups and Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil for attacks in Pakistan’s western regions that border Afghanistan. New Delhi and Kabul deny this.