Three Levies personnel were martyred and as many injured when their vehicle hit a landmine in Balochistan's Ziarat district on Thursday.

The explosion occurred when the Levies vehicle ran over a landmine near Mangi Dam, provincial government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani said.

He further said the injured were sent to a hospital in Quetta for treatment.

According to Shahwani, the martyred personnel included a risaldar major, havaldar and a sepoy. The three injured were all sepoys.

Security sources said four labourers working at Mangi Dam were kidnapped by unidentified armed suspects. The Levies party was travelling to the area to get the workers released when it hit the landmine.

The Balochistan Levies is a force in charge of maintaining law and order in the tribal areas of the province.

Today's incident comes four days after a Pakistan Army captain was martyred and two soldiers injured when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by terrorists in Balochistan's Gichik area.

There has been an uptick in violence in the province, with several incidents of terrorism reported this year, targeting both civilians as well as security forces.

Last Friday, two children were killed and four others, including a Chinese national, were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up targeting a vehicle carrying Chinese nationals in Gwadar.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Majeed Brigade, had claimed responsibility for the attack.

On August 8, two policemen were martyred and 12 others injured in an explosion near Quetta's Serena Hotel. Six civilians were also wounded in the blast. The IED used in the attack was fitted into a motorcycle.

Last month, four people were injured and a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle was damaged in an IED blast in the province's Hazar Ganji locality.