Blast kills 6 in southwest Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - At least six people, including four policemen, have been killed and 15 others injured in an explosion in southwest Pakistan province on Tuesday evening, police and local media reported.

The blast targeted a police truck patrolling on busy Zargoon road, just 300 meters from state assembly building in Quetta, local broadcaster Geo TV reported.

The attack came a few hours after resignation of Balochistan chief minister following a no-confidence move by the opposition.

According to police, the initial reports suggested that it was a suicide attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Talking to reporters, Farrukh Atiq, deputy commissioner Quetta, declined to confirm the number of casualties but said the explosion “might have caused some casualties”.

Aired on Geo TV, footage showed honking ambulances rushing to the site and shifting the injured to the hospitals. Blood-soaked shoes, pieces of clothes, caps, and glasses were scattered around the site and the sidewalks.

The large Baluchistan province, which is also considered to cover parts of neighboring Iran and Afghanistan, is strategically important because of the rich presence of copper, zinc and natural gas but has beset by violence for over six decades, with separatists claiming that it was forcibly incorporated into Pakistan at the end of British rule in 1947.

Outlawed groups like Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have mostly been involved in attacks on security forces in recent years.

The province, especially its capital Quetta, has also been facing a deadly wave of sectarian violence for last one decade. Over 2000 people -- mostly Shiites -- have been killed in targeted attacks and suicide bombings in Quetta and other parts of the province in last ten years.