Islamabad: At least four people were killed and 10 others wounded on Sunday in a bomb blast in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, the police said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Barkhan, about 360 miles northeast of Quetta, the provincial capital.
According to the police, the blast took place in the Rukni Bazaar, a busy market in the Barkhan district of the province. An explosive device planted in a motorcycle was detonated with a remote-controlled device, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Complete anarchy and chaos in #Pakistan…At least 6 people killed & 15 wounded on Sunday in a bomb blast in #Balochistan province,
Blast took place in Rukni Bazaar, An explosive device planted in a motorcycle was detonated with a remote-controlled device
pic.twitter.com/UoXCiKjHqL— Oxomiya Jiyori 🇮🇳 (@SouleFacts) February 26, 2023
Balochistan has long struggled with a low-level insurgency by the Balochistan Liberation Army and other small separatist groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad.
Police, security forces and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and the injured to a nearby hospital. The area has been condoned off by the police.
Hospital officials feared that the death toll might rise as some of the injured were in critical condition.
No group claimed the deadly attack yet.
Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, the chief minister of Balochistan, condemned the bombing, describing it as a terrorist attack.
“Terrorists are trying to create uncertainty through such attacks to achieve their nefarious goals, but we will not allow these anti-state elements to succeed, ” he said without specifically blaming anyone.
Earlier on Saturday evening, unknown terrorists attacked a police vehicle with a roadside bomb in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan, killing two policemen and leaving two others injured.
(With Input from other Agencies)