QUETTA: At least nine soldiers of the Balochistan Constabulary paramilitary force were killed and nine more injured after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden motorbike in a truck carrying the personnel in Kacchi district of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Monday morning, officials said.
The attack occurred when the personnel were heading back to the provincial capital of Quetta after discharging security duties for the three-day Sibi Mela, or Sibi Fair, that began on March 3, according to Kacchi Deputy Commissioner Samiullah Agha.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Nine soldiers of the Balochistan Constabulary force were killed in the attack and nine injured after their truck was hit near the Kumbri bridge that connects Sibi with Kachi district,” Agha said.
Officials of the bomb disposal squad confirmed that it was a suicide attack, Agha said, adding the incident occurred at 9:45am in the morning.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and directed authorities to provide best treatment to the injured soldiers.
“Terrorism in Balochistan is part of enemies’ agenda who have been attempting to destabilize Pakistan,” Sharif said in a statement.
“The nation salutes the sacrifices of our martyrs. The state will rid the country of the menace of terrorism.”
The attack is the latest in a string of assaults on Pakistani police and security forces in recent months, particularly after the Pakistani Taliban called off their cease-fire with the government in November.
Separatist groups have also targeted Pakistani forces in Balochistan that has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by small separatist groups fighting for independence from the central government in Islamabad. The separatists complain of discrimination and demand a fairer share of the province’s resources.
Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo said the attack on Balochistan Constabulary was an “attempt to keep Balochistan backward and deprived.”
“The cowardly terrorists have been attempting to achieve their vicious goals by carrying out such attacks on our brave forces,” Bizenjo said in a statement.
Balochistan Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abdul Khaliq Sheikh has vowed to continue action against militants and directed officials to submit a report on the attack, according to a police statement.
The renewed wave of militant attacks has particularly targeted security forces and law enforcement in Pakistan’s northwestern and southwestern regions that border Afghanistan.
In November, four people, including a policeman, were killed as a result of a suicide attack targeting the Balochistan Constabulary in Quetta. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
In January, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque inside a heavily guarded police compound in the country’s northwest, killed more than 80 people.
