Targeted attack: Blast kills Frontier Corps soldier, four others in Khuzdar

Four injured paramilitary men in a critical condition, 18 civilians injured.

QUETTA:

A Frontier Corps (FC) soldier was among four people killed on Saturday when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded at Allahwala Chowk, the main intersection on Jinnah Road in downtown Khuzdar district, police officials said. Some 22 others, including four FC men, were also wounded.

Khuzdar Deputy Commissioner Waheed Shah said the FC personnel were the main targets of the attack and suspected the involvement of Baloch separatists in the attack.

The attack took place just as an FC vehicle was passing through a busy market in Khuzdar. The blast sparked a stampede in the area and some women and children sustained minor injuries.

Additional FC troops and police cordoned off the area as rescue workers shifted the bodies and the injured FC men to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Khuzdar while civilian bodies and injured were transported to District Headquarters Hospital Khuzdar.

A state of emergency was imposed at Khuzdar hospital in order to cope with the situation. Shah said the four wounded FC men are in a critical condition while all the injured civilians are said to be stable.

“The bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked alongside the road. It was exploded through remote control when the patrolling vehicle came closer,” said Waheed Shah, the administration chief in Khuzdar.

Another senior official in the region confirmed the details.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. But Baloch separatists are active in the area and often attack government forces and installations.

The DC said an investigation has been opened into the incident and a search operation will be carried out in the area to track down those responsible for the attack.

Khuzdar, one of the largest districts in Balochistan, has been witnessing a rapidly deteriorating law and order situation over the last five years and many civilians and politicians have lost their lives in targeted killings or bomb blasts.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2014.