ISLAMABAD: Pakistan security forces have killed three militants during an operation in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

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.

The latest operation was conducted in Awaran district of the province, which has witnessed a surge in attacks on infrastructure projects, security forces, police, non-native Pakistanis and foreigners.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi commended security officials for the successive operation against militants, according to his ministry.

“The brave personnel of security forces are determined to restore peace in Balochistan,” Naqvi was quoted as saying. “The nation stands shoulder to shoulder with security forces in eliminating terrorism.”

The development came a day after five people, including a policeman, were killed after a group of armed men ambushed private security camp of a local tribal leader in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district, a senior police official said.

It followed the kidnapping of five workers, who hailed from Pakistan’s Punjab province, from an agricultural field in Killa Abdullah district near the Pakistan-Afghan border in Balochistan, according to a government official. The whereabouts of the abductees remain unknown since their kidnapping on Tuesday.

No group claimed responsibility for both incidents, but ethnic Baloch separatists have often targeted local tribal leaders as well as non-native commuters and laborers whom they accuse of spying for the state.

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 also frequently accused India of supporting and Afghanistan of providing safe havens to separatist militants who carry out attacks in the mineral-rich province. New Delhi and Kabul have consistently denied this.