QUETTA: At least four persons were killed and four others were injured on Wednesday when an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion targeted a tribal elder in southwestern Pakistan, a police and government official confirmed.
The blast occurred in Naal, a small town located 55 kilometers from Khuzdar city in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province on Wednesday.
Yasir Iqbal Dashti, Khuzdar deputy commissioner, told Arab News that the explosion was caused by explosives fitted inside a motorcycle. A Baloch tribal elder Samad Sumalani was the target of the attack, Dashti said.
“Four people were killed and four others injured after the IED exploded in a crowded street of Naal town,” Dashti said.
Bahawal Khan Pandrani, the station house officer (SHO) of the Naal Police Station, said unknown persons parked the explosive-laden motorbike near a garage where Sumalani was repairing his vehicle at the Naal Bazaar. Sumalani suffered minor injuries in the attack, he said.
“Two vehicles and two motorbikes caught fire after the blast and turned into ashes,” Pandrani said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatist groups, mainly the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which often target tribal elders they see as backed by the state.
Gas-and-rich Balochistan, which shares porous borders with Iran and Afghanistan, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the BLA, who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper, while neglecting the local population.
Pakistani governments deny these allegations, saying that it has prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.
The BLA has emerged as a significant security threat in recent years, carrying out major attacks in Balochistan and Sindh provinces while targeting security forces, ethnic Punjabis and Chinese nationals working on development projects.
The latest attack in Khuzdar happened two days after a suicide attack targeting Pakistan’s security forces in Balochistan’s Kalat, carried out by a woman, killed one paramilitary soldier and injured four others.
Four killed in southwestern Pakistan as IED explosion targets tribal elder — official
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Four killed in southwestern Pakistan as IED explosion targets tribal elder — official
- IED explosion in Khuzdar district targeted tribal elder Samad Sumalani, say deputy commissioner and police official
- No group has claimed responsibility for attack but suspicion is likely to fall on separatist Baloch Liberation Army
Death toll in Pakistan wedding suicide blast rises to six
- Attack targeted members of local peace committee in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan
- Peace committees are community-based groups that report militant activity to security forces
PESHAWAR: The death toll from a suicide bombing at a wedding ceremony in northwestern Pakistan rose to six, police said on Saturday, after funeral prayers were held for those killed in the attack a day earlier.
The bomber detonated explosives during a wedding gathering in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, injuring more than a dozen, some of them critically.
“The death toll has surged to six,” said Nawab Khan, Superintendent of Police for Saddar Dera Ismail Khan. “Police have completed the formalities and registered the case against unidentified attackers.”
“It was a suicide attack and the Counter Terrorism Department will further investigate the case,” he continued, adding that security had been stepped up across the district to prevent further incidents.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.
Khan cautioned against speculation, citing ongoing militancy in the area, and said the investigation was being treated with “utmost seriousness.”
The explosion targeted the home of a member of a local peace committee, which is part of community-based groups that cooperate with security forces and whose members have frequently been targeted by militants in the past.
Some media reports also cited a death toll of seven, quoting police authorities.
Emergency officials said several of the wounded were taken to hospital soon after the blast.
Militant attacks have intensified in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021, with Islamabad accusing Afghan authorities of “facilitating” cross-border assaults, a charge Kabul denies.
