Two children were killed and 14 other persons sustained injuries in a powerful blast in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, police said on Saturday.
An improvised explosive device (IED) apparently targeted traffic police near the Deputy Commissioner Complex in Pishin, a city located some 55 kilometers from the provincial capital of Quetta, according to police officials.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
“An IED fitted inside a motorbike targeted the traffic police soldiers standing at the Surkhab Chowk near Deputy Commissioner Complex on Saturday morning,” Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Kakar, in-charge of the Pishin police station, said. “Two children were killed and 14 others, including two policemen, were injured in the attack“
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a low-level separatist insurgency for the last two decades. The ethnic Baloch insurgents say they are fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral wealth by the federation. The Pakistani government says they are working for the uplift of the impoverished province.
The province has also witnessed some deadliest attacks by religiously motivated groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has claimed a number of attacks in Pishin and nearby areas in the past, and Daesh (Islamic State).
“Initial investigation has revealed that the traffic soldiers were targeted in the blast but police and counter-terrorism department are collecting evidence from the site,” Kakar said.
Wakeel Sherani, medical superintendent at the Pishin district headquarters hospital, confirmed receiving bodies of a boy and a girl. “Three injured, including a woman and two policemen, were referred to Quetta for better medical care,” Sherani said in a statement.
Shahid Rind, a provincial government spokesman, condemned the attack and directed health officials to ensure best treatment of the injured persons.
