QUETTA: A blast triggered by an improvised explosive device (IED) killed two people and injured one in a coastal town in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, a local administration official said amid Islamabad’s struggle to contain surging militancy in the region.
The roadside blast took place in Pasni, a small coastal town located around 142 kilometers from Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar in the southwestern Balochistan province.
Pasni Assistant Commissioner Moheem Khan Gichki said a vehicle carrying three men was targeted with a remote-controlled IED blast at the city’s Miskan Chowk area.
“Two local residents of Pasni were killed in the attack and one was injured, who was later shifted to Gwadar for better medical care,” Gichki told Arab News.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatists, especially the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), who often target law enforcers, locals, and tribal elders they believe are backed by the Pakistani state.
Last month, the BLA hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers aboard near Balochistan’s Bolan Pass, which resulted in the deaths of 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers. At least 33 insurgents were also killed.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province by almost all social and economic indicators, has been the site of a decades-long, low-scale insurgency launched by ethnic Baloch separatist groups. These militant groups accuse the federal government and Pakistan’s military of exploiting the province’s natural resources and denying the local population a share in their wealth.
Islamabad denies the allegations and claims the central government is allocating a large portion of development funds to fund health, education and infrastructure projects in the province.
Sunday’s attack was the third IED blast that had taken place in Balochistan in less than a week. Three soldiers of the Bomb Disposal Wing of the paramilitary Frontier Corps Balochistan were killed and four were injured in an IED blast on April 25.
Three people, including two women, were killed after a roadside IED blast targeted a private vehicle in the province’s Kalat district on April 24.
Two killed, one injured by IED blast in southwestern Pakistan
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Two killed, one injured by IED blast in southwestern Pakistan
- Vehicle carrying three people targeted with an IED blast in coastal town of Pasni, says official
- Two earlier IED explosions in southwestern Balochistan less than a week ago killed 6 people
Pakistan stock market sheds over 2,000 points amid regional tensions
- KSE-100 index lost 2,025.53 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 182,384.14
- The development comes amid public unrest in Iran, possibility of a US strike
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) fell sharply and lost more than 2,000 points during the intraday trade on Monday, with analysts blaming the slump on geopolitical uncertainty linked to heightened tensions in the region.
The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 2,025.53 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 182,384.14 points, down from 184,409.67 points at the weekend close, according to PSX data.
The development came amid public unrest in Iran over worsening economic conditions, with the death toll reaching nearly 550 and the government arresting more than 10,600 people in a crackdown.
US President Donald Trump said late Sunday his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran but cautioned he may have to act first as reports mount of increasing deaths and the government continues arrests.
“[Pakistan] stocks slumped on geopolitical uncertainty,” Ahsan Mehanti, chief executive officer at Arif Habib Commodities, told Arab News. “Weak global equities, political noise, and security unrest played a catalyst role in selling activity at PSX.”
Meanwhile, Pakistani market research firm Topline Securities said activity slowed noticeably as buying interest from local funds eased after last week’s strong rally.
“With the market having advanced nearly 3 percent on a WoW (week on week) basis, investors chose to lock in gains, resulting in broad-based profit-taking during the session,” it said on X.
“The pullback appears to be a healthy consolidation after the recent sharp up-move, rather than a shift in the market’s underlying sentiment.”
It said that a total of 1,055 million shares were traded at the market on Monday, with Fauji Foods Limited (FFL) topping the volume chart with 65.6 million shares.
Pakistan’s stock market has gained momentum in recent months as broad institutional buying boosted investor confidence amid ongoing economic reforms under international lending programs.
Around 135,000 new investors have joined the PSX over the last 18 months. Last week, Pakistani stocks climbed to a fresh all-time high with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 186,000-point mark for the first time ever.
