4 dead in Quetta suicide blast targeting police

Dozens others injured in explosion targeting police vehicle in Baleli area


Syed Ali Shah November 30, 2022
Security officials inspect a burnt out car after a suicide bomb attack targeting a police truck in Quetta. PHOTO: AFP

print-news
QUETTA:

At least four people, including a policeman and a woman and her son, died while more than two dozen others sustained injuries in a powerful blast in Quetta’s Baleli area on Wednesday that targeted a police patrol, senior police officials said.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Quetta, Azfar Mehesar said that a police truck, carrying policemen, was hit in the attack. He gave the death toll from the explosion at four. Mehesar added that one policeman died inside the police truck, while a woman and her son died in another vehicle, while on way to Quetta.

A senior security official said on the condition of anonymity that initial police investigation suggested it was a suicide attack. The suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the police truck. There was a huge blast in which the police truck was destroyed, the official said.

The blast was heard far and wide and caused panic in the area. Police and rescue workers were quick to reach the spot. The injured were rushed to the Civil Hospital Quetta and the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), where an emergency was declared to provide prompt medical treatment to the injured.

Wasim Baig, spokesperson for the Balochistan Health Department, told AFP that a policeman, a civilian woman, and two children had been killed in the blast. “The injured include 21 policemen and two children,” Baig added. Some of the wounded were in a critical condition, police official Abdul Haq told Reuters.

Read: TTP calls off ceasefire, orders terrorist attacks across Pakistan

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement, the TTP said that its fighter detonated a car bomb near a customs post to avenge the killing of its founding member Umar Khalid Khurasani, according to AFP.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and directed for the best possible medical aid to the injured. He also paid tribute to the martyred police official. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also condemned the suicide attack.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Quddus Bizenjo strongly condemned the blast and directed the administration to submit a report about the blast. In a statement issued after the blast, Bizenjo said the perpetrators of the blast would be brought to justice. An important meeting was also held at the Balochistan home ministry.

The attack came two days after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced the end of a ceasefire the banned outfit had agreed with the federal government in June this year. The group said on Monday it had ordered its militants to stage terrorist attacks across the country.

The government and the TTP had agreed to a truce earlier this year after Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers took a prominent role in brokering peace talks, but negotiations made little progress and there were frequent breaches.

Also on Monday, the government launched a week-long polio immunisation campaign aiming to inoculate over 13 million children. Polio vaccination teams are routinely escorted by police, and the TTP has regularly ambushed officers in remote restive areas.

(WITH INPUT FROM AGENCIES)

COMMENTS (9)

gs | 1 year ago | Reply You shall NOT commit murder is one of the many any Commads of the Almighty. So what is very likely to happen to the murderer for disobeying the Almighty. The murderer earn to be sent to the Ovens where they shall llive until the pleasure of the Almighty.
Fatima Baloch | 1 year ago | Reply March 27 1948 Pakistan Annexed Balochistan by force.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ