QUETTA: One cop was killed while five others were injured on Saturday after an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeted an Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF) vehicle in southwestern Pakistan, a police official said.
The attack took place at the Western Bypass area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province. An ATF patrolling vehicle was targeted with a remote-controlled IED fitted inside a cement block, the station house officer (SHO) of Brewery Road Police Station, Mehmood Kharoti, told Arab News.
The ATF operates under the Balochistan Police and is a specialized unit responsible for countering “terrorism” and organized crime.
“One ATF [cop] Dilbar Khan was killed on the spot and five others were injured in the attack,” Kharoti said.
The police officer said the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.
“According to the Bomb Disposal report, two kilograms of explosives were used in the attack,” he added.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent ethnic Baloch separatist outfit operating in the province.
The blast takes place days after BLA militants stormed the Jaffar Express train on Tuesday in a remote mountain pass in Balochistan after blowing up train tracks. The militants held over 400 passengers hostage in a day-long standoff before the military rescued them.
Pakistan security forces killed 33 insurgents, rescued 354 hostages and brought the siege to a close on Wednesday, according to army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. A final count showed 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers had died in the attack.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s biggest in terms of landmass, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency, with separatist groups accusing the government of exploiting the province’s natural resources while leaving its people in poverty.
Government officials deny the allegation and say they are developing the province through multibillion-dollar projects, including those backed by China.
