Four Killed As Deadly Blast Hits Police Vehicle In Pakistan’s Quetta
At least four people have been killed others injured in a bombing targeting a police vehicle in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Monday, police and hospital sources have said.
Civil Hospital spokesperson Waseem Baig confirmed to the press that so far, the hospital has received four dead and 15 injured.
“A police vehicle was targeted in the Qandhari Bazaar area of the city. Among the dead, two are police officials whereas one girl and another civilian died,” Baig said.
Another police official Mitha Khan present at the hospital has said it was unclear if the attack was planted or suicide.
“The vehicle targeted belonged to a senior police official who was on his way to one of the police stations. The senior official is unhurt, but his driver and gunman died in the attack,” Khan told the press.
Senior police official Shafqat Cheema said that the target was the vehicle of the acting superintendent of police investigations which was parked in Kandahari Bazar.
He said that initial reports showed an improvised explosive device was planted in a motorcycle parked behind the officer’s vehicle.
So far, no armed group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack came only days after Pakistan’s top intelligence agency arrested a “high-value target” in an operation against a Baloch rebel group in the province.
The military in its statement on Friday said Gulzar Imam, also known by the name Shambay, is the founder and leader of the banned Baloch Nationalist Army.
The army said the BNA had been involved in dozens of “terrorist” attacks in the country, including those on security forces.
The southwestern Balochistan province is considered full of natural resources.
The province, situated at the border of Afghanistan and Iran, has been a scene of rebellion by Baloch separatists for more than 20 years.
The nationalist groups have made demands to share the resources but have for two decades initiated a movement for complete independence.
Also on Friday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said that the National Security Committee (NSC) has agreed to launch a nationwide military operation due to rising security concerns.
“The [NSC] 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,” a news release from the prime minister’s office said.
The last major operation launched to counter the armed groups was in 2014, which resulted in the displacement of more than a million people while hundreds were killed.
Pakistan has in the last few months seen a drastic increase in attacks on its security forces by the Pakistan Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP) after it unilaterally ended a ceasefire agreement with the government in November last year.
This year, the group and its factions have unleashed a wave of attacks including a suicide bombing at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar that killed more than 100 people, mostly policemen.
