A Pakistan Army soldier was martyred in a terrorist attack near Turbat airport on Thursday, according to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The military’s media wing said that terrorists using “small arms” attacked the troops near Turbat airport, as a result of which a “brave soldier, Naik Aqeel Abbas, embraced shahadat (martyrdom)".

Following the attack, Frontier Corps personnel launched a large-scale operation in the area to hunt the attackers.

In its statement, the ISPR said that "such cowardly acts by inimical elements, backed by anti-state forces could not sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in the province.

“Security forces are determined to neutralise nefarious designs [of the enemy] even at the cost of blood and lives."

Earlier this week, four Frontier Corps soldiers were martyred in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion on the Margat-Quetta road in Balochistan.

"Terrorists targeted Frontier Corps troops employed for [the] security of Margat Mines" using an IED, the ISPR had said.

The martyred personnel included a junior commissioned officer of FC Balochistan. They were identified as Subedar Sardar All Khan and sepoys Musaddaf Hussain, Muhammad Anwar and Awais Khan.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, while expressing grief on the martyrdom of the four FC personnel, had said the operation by security forces would continue till the last terrorist was present in the country.

The minister had stressed that terrorists could not demoralise the security forces with their "cowardly attacks". He’d also lamented that anti-national elements were targeting Balochistan because the province was the guarantor of Pakistan's development.