At least four persons including two police personnel and 15 persons suffered injuries in a blast at Baluchistan's capital Quetta on Monday. According to police, the miscreants were targeting a police vehicle.
According to reports, most of the injured were civilian pedestrians. The attack happened in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, said Babar Yousafzai, a spokesman for the provincial government. He said the dead included two officers and two civilians.
Dawn reported the health condition of two of the injured were critical. The publication quoted SSP Operations Captain (retd) Zohaib Mohsin as saying, “According to initial information, three to four kilos of explosives were used in the blast. Due to the blast, two vehicles, including the police van, were damaged.” he said the explosives were planted in a motorcycle.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks across the country since November when they ended a monthslong cease-fire with the government.
Pakistan has also been battling an insurgency in Baluchistan for more than a decade, with separatists in the province demanding complete autonomy or a larger share of the province's gas and mineral resources.
In a statement, provincial Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo condemned the attack and ordered authorities to provide the best possible medical care to the wounded.
The Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, have claimed previous such attacks in Baluchistan and elsewhere. The militant group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban.
The latest attack comes a day after the TTP shot and killed two police officers in Quetta. One of the assailants was also killed when police returned fire after coming under attack in the city Sunday night.
(With PTI inputs.)
