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
Bangladesh approves new rice imports from Pakistan amid price pressures
- The deal follows Bangladesh’s resumption of direct rice trade with Pakistan earlier this year for the first time since independence in 1971
- Diplomatic ties between the two nations have improved since the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina after mass protests last year
DHAKA: Bangladesh has approved the import of 50,000 metric tons of white rice from Pakistan under a government-to-government deal as part of efforts to stabilize domestic prices, officials said on Tuesday.
The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase cleared the deal at $395 per ton, reinforcing Dhaka’s renewed trade engagement with Islamabad.
Rice prices in Bangladesh have jumped by between 15 percent and 20 percent over the past year, with medium-quality rice selling at about 80 taka ($0.66) per kilogram. Despite increased imports and the removal of duties to ease supply constraints, prices for the staple grain remain stubbornly high.
The deal follows Bangladesh’s resumption of direct rice trade with Pakistan earlier this year for the first time since independence in 1971. In February, it imported 50,000 tons of rice from Pakistan at $499 per ton under a similar agreement.
Diplomatic ties between the two South Asian nations have improved since an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took office after mass protests forced then prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to neighboring India last year.
Formerly East Pakistan, Bangladesh gained independence after a nine-month war in 1971, and relations with Pakistan have remained fraught in the decades since the conflict.
Separately, the government approved another 50,000 tons of parboiled rice through an international tender, part of a series of recent purchases aimed at cooling local prices. India’s Pattabhi Agro Foods secured the contract with the lowest bid of $355.77 per ton.
