At least four policemen were killed Tuesday in a gunbattle with terrorists in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police sources said.

The killing comes just hours after four people died in a bomb blast in the region's capital, Quetta.

Terrorists identified by police as being from the Pakistan Taliban opened fire on a predawn patrol in Kuchlak, officials said, and were still on the run.

"Militants opened fire on a police team from a compound killing four policemen," senior local police official Muhammad Zohaib told AFP.

"One terrorist was also killed during the exchange of fire, while the remainder escaped."

Counterterrorism department official Aitzaz Goraya said the militants were from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is separate from Afghanistan's Taliban but shares a similar ideology.

On Monday four people were killed -- two police and two civilians -- by a motorcycle bomb in a busy market of Balochistan's capital, Quetta.

That attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army.

Pakistan has been battling a yearslong terrorist insurgency in Balochistan, demanding a bigger share of the province's wealth, as well as attacks by the Pakistan Taliban.

Tensions in the province, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, have been stoked by a flood of Chinese investment under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative that locals say has not benefited them.

China is investing in the area under a $54 billion project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, upgrading infrastructure, power and transport links between its far-western Xinjiang region and Pakistan's Gwadar port.