QUETTA: At least two people were killed and one other was injured while trying to defuse an improvised explosive device (IED) in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, a paramilitary official said on Saturday.
The blast occurred in the Ali Chakarani area of Balochistan’s Dera Bugti district, when local tribesmen attempted to defuse the IED planted by unknown militants, according to Nadir Ali, in-charge of the paramilitary Levies station in the area.
The deceased were identified as Washu Khan and Muhammad Zahid, while the injured person was being treated at a hospital.
“A local shepherd informed the tribesmen on Saturday morning that a suspicious device had been planted in the area,” Ali told Arab News. “The slain tribesmen were attempting to defuse the device without informing the local Levies force and other law enforcement agencies.”
No group has claimed responsibility for planting the IED.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but most impoverished province, has been the site of a long-running insurgency that has intensified in recent months, with separatist militants attacking security forces, government officials and installations and people from other provinces who they see as “outsiders.”
The Pakistani government says it has launched several development schemes relating to infrastructure, health and education for some 15 million people of Balochistan, which is also home to deep seaport being built by China, gold, copper and coal mines, and has a long coast on the Arabian Sea.
Last month, an army officer was killed and three civilians, including a child, were injured in an IED blast in the restive region, police officials said. The explosion targeted a private vehicle in the western bypass area of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.
The provincial government has banned weapons display, pillion riding and an assembly of more than five people for 15 days, amid threats of militant attacks in the volatile region during Pakistan’s 79th Independence Day celebrations.
