At least four people, including two policemen, lost their lives while 15 others received injuries in a blast in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province on Monday, said police.
A senior police official, SSP Operations Captain Zohaib Mohsin in a statement to media said that the target of the blast was a police vehicle. He confirmed that the blast killed at least four people, including two policemen. The explosives were planted in a motorbike parked in a market on Shahrah-i-Iqbal road in Quetta city, the provincial capital. The blast also injured 15 people including women and children. The injured were immediately shifted to the nearest government run medical facility where the condition of two wounded people is reported critical. The official said that around four kilograms of explosive was used in the powerful blast that damaged the police van completely. Earlier last month, nine policemen lost their lives and 13 others were wounded in a suicide blast targeting a police van in Baluchistan’s Bolan district.
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast in Quetta. The prime minister condoled with the bereaved families, praying for the elevation of ranks of the martyred and for early recovery of those who were injured in the attack.
He directed officials to provide all possible medical facilities to the injured. The premier also sought a report on the terrorist attack from authorities, vowing that the nefarious designs of the terrorists would be foiled.
The blast comes two days after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), chaired by Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif and attended by top military and political leadership, on Friday agreed to launch an “all-out comprehensive operation” to rid the country of the menace of terrorism.
A press release after the meeting read, “The meeting agreed to launch an all-out comprehensive operation with [the participation of] the entire nation and government to rid the country of the menace of terrorism with renewed vigor and determination.”
Source: Kuwait News Agency