QUETTA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday condemned an explosion in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province that killed at least three people and injured 13 others, instructing authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
An improvised explosive device (IED) targeted traffic police near the Deputy Commissioner Complex in Pishin, a city located about 55 kilometers from the provincial capital of Quetta, according to police officials, who said two children were among those who lost their lives.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
A statement released by the PM Office said Sharif expressed deep sorrow and grief over the death of young children.
“The perpetrators of the incident should be identified and brought to justice,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.
“These cowardly terrorists who attacked young children are not worthy of being called humans,” he added.
The prime minister also prayed for the recovery of police personnel and other individuals injured in the attack and expressed sympathy with the families of those who lost their lives.
Earlier, a police spokesman shared the details of the attack while speaking to Arab News.
“An IED fitted inside a motorbike targeted the traffic police soldiers standing at the Surkhab Chowk near Deputy Commissioner Complex on Saturday morning,” Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Kakar, in-charge of the Pishin police station, said. “Two children were killed and 14 others, including two policemen, were injured in the attack.”
Wakeel Sherani, medical superintendent at the Pishin district headquarters hospital, confirmed receiving bodies of a boy and a girl, and said five of the injured, including a woman and two policemen, were referred to Quetta for better medical care.
However, the injured woman died during treatment at the Civil Hospital in Quetta, according to Dr. Ishaq Panezai, medical superintendent of the medical facility.
“A 25-year-old woman succumbed to injuries while being treated in the Trauma Center,” he told Arab News. “Four other critically injured persons are undergoing surgeries.”
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a low-level separatist insurgency for the last two decades. The ethnic Baloch insurgents say they are fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral wealth by the federation. The Pakistani government says it is working for the uplift of the impoverished province.
The province has also witnessed some deadliest attacks by religiously motivated groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has claimed a number of attacks in Pishin and nearby areas in the past.
Shahid Rind, a provincial government spokesman, condemned the attack and directed health officials to ensure best treatment of the injured persons.
“Terrorists have been targeting innocent citizens of Pakistan to achieve their vicious agenda,” he said in a statement. “Enemies of the state will not be spared.”