QUETTA: A bomb targeting police killed at least five people and wounded five others in Pishin district of restive southwest Balochistan province on Monday, police said.

The attack was staged in Pishin district, 40 kilometres north of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province which is racked by a separatist insurgency and sectarian violence.

“The bomb was planted underneath the police van, which exploded while the officials were performing routine checks, killing five people including three policemen and two civilians,” district police chief Mehboob Rasheed told AFP.

He said the blast also wounded five people including passengers of a minibus.

A senior local administration official Zahid bin Maqsood confirmed the incident and the casualties.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the the attack.

“We attacked the police in Balochistan today to avenge killing of our men by the army in a recent staged encounter,” in the country's northwest, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told news agency AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is believed to have substantial oil and gas reserves. But it is one of the country’s most unstable areas and attacks on police and troops are common.

The province has been the focal point of rising violence against the ethnic Shia Hazara minority. It also suffers from a decade-long insurgency by Baloch nationalists who want greater autonomy and a larger share of oil and gas revenues.