One dead, seven injured in Awaran blast

Police say the explosion targeted a shop in shopping mall

QUETTA:

One person was killed and seven, including women and children, were injured in a blast inside a shopping mall in the Awaran district of Balochistan on Saturday.

Police told The Express Tribune that miscreants targeted a shop inside the shopping mall.

“All of the injured were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital, Awaran where some of them are said to be in critical condition.”

An emergency was imposed in the hospital after the blast and all the staff was called to cope with the situation.

Police said that a home-made explosive device was used in the attack and the Bomb Disposal Unit was called in to inspect the site of the attack.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo strongly condemned the blast, ordering a thorough investigation into the attack.

The CM also sought a report from the authorities. Awaran Deputy Commissioner Captain (retd) Jumadad Mandokhail and other senior officials reached the site and supervised the rescue operation.

A banned militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier on November 30, 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.

A senior security official said on the condition of anonymity that the 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 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.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2022.