Five injured in blast near Quetta police HQ

CM Bizenjo condemns attack, seeks report: TTP claims responsibility

QUETTA:

At least five people were injured in a blast near the Musa check post in Quetta on Sunday.

Police sources said security personnel deployed at the checkpoint near the Quetta Police Lines were also among the injured.

The injured were rushed to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto hospital for medical treatment. The blast was heard far and wide causing panic in the provincial capital.

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, confirming that security officials were targeted in the blast.

The blast comes days after a ghastly suicide blast in the Peshawar Police Lines area took nearly 101 lives, mostly policemen.

"This seems to be a suicide attack", a senior police officer told The Express Tribune on Sunday, requesting anonymity since he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo strongly condemned the incident and directed the police to submit a report in this regard. He said the terrorists involved in the attack would be brought to justice.

“An investigation has been ordered,” an official handout issued here on Sunday stated.

The explosion also smashed the windowpanes of nearby homes. Police and personnel of Frontier Corps reached the spot as an investigation into the incident was underway.

The blast took place when a match between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi was underway.

The provincial government had evolved a massive security plan to ensure peace on the eve of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) exhibition match at the Nawab Akbar Bugti stadium.

Meanwhile, security was tightened in and around Quetta in the aftermath of the blast that rocked the provincial capital.

It is pertinent to mention that the country is facing a fresh wave of terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as in Balochistan and parts of Punjab bordering K-P.