Five killed in deadly Quetta blast

Nearby buildings damaged by the high-intensity explosion.

QUETTA: A powerful bomb exploded outside the City police station located in the busy Liaquat Bazaar of Quetta on Thursday killing at least five people and injuring at least 37 others.

The Quetta Commissioner said that an improvised explosive device weighing between four and five kilogrammes had been planted on a cycle that had been parked at a cycle stand on Shahrah-e-Liaquat opposite the police station. The bomb went off at around 4:55pm, a little after the evening Asr prayers.

The commissioner added that as many as 42 people were affected by the blast, including police officers. The explosion, he said, killed a total of five people including a policeman, and four civilians. At least 37 people were injured by the blast.

The rescue efforts were divided with 21 of the injured being shifted to the nearby Civil Hospital while 16 other injured were taken to the Combined Military Hospital Quetta for medical treatment. He added that emergency has been imposed at the two hospitals.

Following the bombing, rescue workers and security personnel, including paramilitary units rushed to the blast site to move the wounded to hospital and secure the blast site.

“People may have been killed in the blast because it was powerful,” a passerby Mohammed Akram told The Express Tribune.

There was a stampede soon after the explosion, as Liauqat Bazaar is the heart of the city, with most of the shopping malls, trading centers, shops and roadside hotels located there.

This is the second major explosion in Pakistan today. Earlier, a bomb exploded in the old Anarkali area of Lahore, killing one person.