QUETTA: A powerful blast rocked Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, killing six people and injuring over a dozen others on Thursday, hospital officials said.
Pakistan is fighting several low-level insurgencies in the impoverished province, waged by separatist, sectarian and other radical groups.
Pakistan’s least developed province of Balochistan shares a border with Iran and Afghanistan. The province is also home to Gwadar, where China is involved in the development of a port on the Arabian Sea as part of a $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
A spokesperson for Quetta's Civil Hospital, Dr. Waseem Baig, confirmed six deaths in the Thursday evening blast.
Police said the explosion was triggered by a remotely-controlled explosive device that targeted a religious ceremony, the Shuhda-e-Islam Conference, organized by the Jamiyat Ulma-e-Islam Nazaryati (JUI-N) political party. The blast occurred on Quetta’s famous Jinnah Road, one of the busiest in the provincial capital.
“The explosion targeted the political workers of a religious party when they were coming out from the conference hall,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Quetta Fida Hassan told journalists at the blast site. “We had deployed troops for the security of the event ... but unknown persons planted explosive material beneath an electricity pylon which exploded at 9:40pm while the political workers and religious leaders were dispersing after the event.”
“Approximately two kg of explosive material was used in the blast,” the police chief added.
Injured people were evacuated from the blast site to the Civil Hospital where doctors declared emergency, Dr. Javed Akhtar, medical superintendent at the facility, told Arab News.
Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Interior, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, said the blast would be thoroughly investigated.
“I have asked for the detailed report of the blast from the provincial authorities,” he said. “These cowardly attacks can’t deter the Pakistani nation.”
The Chief Minister of Balochistan, Mir Abdul Qudus Bizenjo, also condemned the blast and directed authorities to ensure those injured in the attack got proper medical treatment.
A provincial leader of the JUI-N party, Maulana Abdul Qadir Loni, said the party had repeatedly asked the provincial government for security “but they failed in protecting innocent workers.”
“We have called for a complete shutter down strike across Balochistan against Thursday’s blast on our Shuhda e Islam Conference," he told Arab News, "and we will start province-wide protests."
