QUETTA Unidentified gunmen Friday killed four policemen in southwest Pakistan, where targeted killings blamed on insurgents and Taliban militants are increasing, police said.

The attack took place in Satellite Town, a neighbourhood of Quetta, the capital of resource-rich Balochistan province, police said.

“A police station house officer, two constables and the driver were killed on the spot. The attackers fled on their motorcycle,” local police official Mohammmad Amin told AFP by telephone.

Violence has recently surged in Balochistan which borders both Afghanistan and Iran. About two dozen people died in targeted killings in March.

The province is rife with Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between majority Sunnis and minority Shia Muslims and regional insurgency.

Baloch militants rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the regions wealth of natural resources, including oil and gas. Hundreds of people have died since then.