QUETTA: Militants set off a powerful car bomb outside the headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary security forces in the southwestern city of Quetta on Tuesday, killing at least eight people and wounding several others, authorities said.
Before detonating their vehicle, four attackers who were inside the car stepped outside and engaged the troops in an intense shootout, according to the police.
Residents said the blast was so powerful it was heard from miles away. Ambulances rushed to the site in front of the Frontier Constabulary and rescuers transported the wounded to nearby hospitals.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, though suspicion is likely to fall on separatist groups that often target civilians and security forces in insurgency-plagued Balochistan, where Quetta is the provincial capital.
According to provincial health minister Bakhat Kakar there were concerns the death toll could rise further.
Local television channels and CCTV footage from the site of the explosion shows a car stopping in front of the gate of the paramilitary compound. An explosion follows and gunfire is heard after the blast. Windows of surrounding buildings were shattered and nearby cars were also damaged, according to the footage.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the attack, saying security forces returned fire and killed all four assailants.
“Terrorists cannot break the nation’s resolve through cowardly acts, and the sacrifices of our people and security forces will not go in vain,” Bugti said in a statement. He said that his government remains committed to making the province a peaceful and secure place.
The latest attack came weeks after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a stadium near Quetta as supporters of a nationalist party were leaving a rally, killing at least 13 people and wounding 30 others.
Balochistan has long been the scene of insurgency, with groups such as the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army demanding independence from the central government. The separatists have largely targeted security forces and civilians in the region and elsewhere.
Car bomb outside Pakistani security force headquarters kills 8
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Car bomb outside Pakistani security force headquarters kills 8
- Residents said the blast was so powerful it was heard from miles away
South Sudan officers face court martial over civilian massacre
- The increasingly unstable country is seeing a surge of fighting between government and opposition forces
JUBA: South Sudanese soldiers, including two officers, will face a court martial over a civilian massacre last month, the army spokesman said Wednesday.
The increasingly unstable country is seeing a surge of fighting between government and opposition forces, much of it in eastern Jonglei state where at least 280,000 people have been displaced since December according to the UN.
At least 25 civilians, including women and children, were killed in Ayod County in Jonglei state on February 21, according to the opposition.
Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said that two officers, including a major, and several non-commissioned officers, had been arrested and would face charges in the capital Juba, “before they are arraigned before a competent military court martial.”
He said the deaths were attributed to “some elements” under Gen. Johnson Olony, who was filmed in January ordering troops to “spare no lives” in Jonglei.
Koang said the soldiers had “moved out without the knowledge or authorization of the division commander.”
He also said they had been part of a militia group allied to opposition forces, parts of which had not yet been fully integrated into the army.
Military integration was among the core principles of a peace agreement that ended South Sudan’s five-year civil war in 2018 between President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, Riek Machar, but it was never implemented.
Koang said the army regretted the loss of lives, adding: “We would like to once again remind our forces that their mandate is to protect civilians and their property, not to do the opposite.”
It followed an impassioned plea from the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference on recent civilian killings — in Ayod, and also in Abiemnom County near the Sudan border where at least 169 people were killed on Sunday.
“We implore you to deploy resources to protect vulnerable populations and foster a climate of dialogue and reconciliation instead of violence and revenge, consoling the bereaved and supporting the afflicted,” it said in a statement.
