QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) - Two Pakistani soldiers were killed and another seriously injured in a landmine blast in the country's gas-rich southwestern province of Baluchistan, officials said.

A banned militant group representing tribesmen seeking more profits from the region's natural resources claimed responsibility for the attack in Manjra Taratani area, 450 kilometers (270 miles) southeast of Quetta on Friday.

The soldiers were accompanying a minesweeping team when the blast happened, security officials told AFP.

Rebel tribesmen launched an insurgency in oil-rich Baluchistan province in late 2004, fuelled by claims that foreign investors and richer neighboring provinces were creaming off profits from the region.

The violence, including attacks on railways, electricity lines and government installations, subsided after rebel chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed by the army in August 2006 but has risen again in recent months.