Two children and a woman were killed on Saturday while two policemen were among 13 people injured when a blast occurred at a main market near Surkhab Chowk in Balochistan’s Pishin district, hospital officials said.

The incident is the latest in a string of attacks on police officials and checkposts, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Attacks escalated after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022 and vowed to target security forces.

According to a list of the casualties issued by Dr Wakeel Sherani, the medical superintendent at Pishin Civil Hospital, two children were killed in today’s blast while 14 were initially injured.

Thirteen of the wounded were referred to the Quetta Trauma Centre, where a woman succumbed to her injuries, a list issued by the hospital’s managing director Dr Arbab Kamran showed.

Five injured people were in serious condition, two had minor injuries, the treatment of three was under way and two had been discharged from the Trauma Centre, the list stated.

According to Pishin City Station House Officer (SHO) Mujibur Rehman, the two injured policemen were in critical condition.

“Apparently, the explosive material was planted in a motorcycle,” SHO Rehman said, adding that as a result, three vehicles were damaged.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Bomb Disposal Squad have reached the incident site to collect evidence for a probe, the official said.

According to state broadcaster PTV News, the blast occurred near the Pishin deputy commissioner’s office.

The attack comes days after two pedestrians were injured in a roadside explosion in Noshki district, which the police said occurred when a convoy of Frontier Crops was passing by.

Last month, a blast in Pishin caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) left three CTD officials and three pedestrians injured. Police officials had said the attack was aimed at a CTD vehicle carrying the department’s personnel.

The same day, in a similar incident, a soldier of the Quick Response Force of the Frontier Corps South was martyred and seven others were injured in Kech district’s Buleda area.

Condemnations pour in

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the blast near police lines in Pishin, Radio Pakistan reported.

Expressing deep grief and sorrow over the martyrdom of young children in the explosion, PM Shehbaz said “cowardly terrorists who attack young children do not deserve to be called humans”.

The premier prayed for the recovery of the injured policemen and other people in the incident, directing that they be provided with the best possible medical treatment.

PM Shehbaz called for those responsible for the incident to be identified and given exemplary punishment. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s firm commitment to the war against terrorism.

President Asif Ali Zardari also conveyed his sorrow over the incident to the bereaved families.

“Those responsible should be given exemplary punishment according to the law,” President Zardari said in a statement, reiterating the resolve to continue operations against terrorists.

He prayed for the deceased and their families.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the blast “near the Police Lines”, expressing grief over the loss of children’s lives.

Extending his sympathies to the children’s families, Naqvi said in a statement: “This war [against terrorism] will continue till the terrorists and their enablers are eradicated.”

He stressed that the fight was for “Pakistan’s honour and to give the future generations a peaceful and safe Pakistan”.

Praying for the speedy recovery of the injured, he said the nation and the security forces stood together in the war against terrorism.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti also condemned the blast, stating that the perpetrators wanted to ruin the province’s peace.

“The courage of our security institutions cannot be diminished by such cowardly actions ,” CM Bugti asserted.

“We will completely eradicate this sore of terrorism with the help of the public and the security forces,” the chief minister vowed.

Provincial government spokesperson Shahid Rind condemned the “terrorist incidents in Pishin and Noshki”, regretting the loss of precious human lives.

“Anti-society and anti-state elements do not deserve any concession,” Rind asserted. “Terrorists are targeting innocent and sinless people to achieve their nefarious goals,” he added.

The spokesperson directed the provincial health department to provide the best medical facilities to those injured in the blast.

Additional input from Nadir Guramani