Authorities in Pakistan said Wednesday that an insurgent assault on a military base in turbulent southwestern Baluchistan province killed at least four soldiers and “critically injured” five others.

The army’s media wing said that five “terrorists” had attempted “to sneak into the facility” in the province’s northern Zhob district early in the morning but troops intercepted them.

“In the ensuing heavy exchange of fire the terrorists have been contained into a small area at the boundary,” a statement said, adding that retaliatory fire killed three “heavily armed” assailants. “A clearance operation by security forces is underway to apprehend the remaining two terrorists,” the army said.

A top district administration official earlier confirmed that militants had stormed the Zhob cantonment area. Azeem Kakar told reporters that civilians were also caught in the crossfire, leaving a woman dead and five people injured.

Security sources in Zhob reported that the hours-long siege had ended after all five attackers were killed. They said security forces had lost nine personnel while another 15 were injured.

Pakistani officials did not immediately comment on the reported higher casualty toll.

A relatively new militant outfit, Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, reportedly claimed credit for staging the attack on the army base but its authenticity could not be ascertained immediately. The group is believed to be tied to the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, an alliance of banned extremist organizations conducting attacks against the Pakistani state.

Baluchistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, have recently suffered a dramatic upsurge in militant attacks. The violence has killed more than 400 people, mostly security forces, in suicide bombings and other attacks since the beginning of 2023.

The TTP and the so-called Baluch Liberation Army, both designated as global terrorist organizations by the United States, have taken responsibility for most of the bloodshed in the two provinces and elsewhere in Pakistan.

The Pakistani military has confirmed the death of more than 100 officers and soldiers in insurgent raids and clashes in the first six months of the year.