Islamabad: At least two policemen were killed and 12 people, including eight policemen, were injured in a powerful explosion on Sunday targeting a police van near a luxury hotel in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province. The officers provided this information. Balochistan government spokesman Liaquat Shahwani said, “Preliminary investigation has revealed that the bomb was planted on a motorcycle.”
Two policemen were killed and eight others were injured in the blast, he said. Shahwani said four passers-by were also injured in the blast targeting a police mobile van at Tanzim Square near Serena Hotel in Quetta. He said security agencies have cordoned off the area and started raids to nab the culprits.
A senior police officer said that the injured have been admitted to the city’s civil hospital. He said the explosion was so powerful that the windows of the surrounding buildings were broken. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but Baloch nationalists are active in the province and often target security forces. They accuse the federal government of exploiting the province’s natural resources.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan has condemned the incident. In a statement, he was quoted as saying, “Terrorist elements want to ruin the peace of the province. We will not allow terrorists to succeed in their nefarious designs.” An Anti-Terrorism Department (CTD) spokesperson said the police van was targeted with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to a motorcycle.
