Quetta
Security officials and people gather around the wreckage of a vehicle after bomb explosion in Quetta on January 29, 2011. — Photo by AFP

QUETTA: Eight people, including three policemen, were injured Saturday when a bomb targeting a senior police official exploded on Quetta’s Alamdar road, police said.

The bomb, planted in a Suzuki car, exploded as a police vehicle carrying Shaban Ali passed through the heart of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Balochistan province, senior police official Hamid Shakeel told AFP.

Rescue teams rushed to the site of the blast and shifted the injured to nearby hospitals.

Shakeel said nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Local security officials, who declined to be identified, also confirmed the incident.

Moreover, security agencies cordoned off the area and started an investigation into the attack.

Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has seen an upswing in violence recently, with the province suffering from a separatist insurgency, sectarian violence and Taliban militants.

Hundreds of people have died since militants rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's natural oil, gas and mineral resources.

Opinion

Editorial

A hasty retreat
Updated 28 Nov, 2024

A hasty retreat

Govt should not extend its campaign of violence against PTI and its leaders, thinking it now has the upper hand. Enough is enough.
Lebanon truce
28 Nov, 2024

Lebanon truce

WILL it hold? That is the question many in the Middle East and beyond will be asking after a 60-day ceasefire ...
MDR anomaly removed
28 Nov, 2024

MDR anomaly removed

THE State Bank’s decision to remove its minimum deposit rate requirement for conventional banks on deposits from...
Islamabad march
Updated 27 Nov, 2024

Islamabad march

WITH emotions running high, chaos closes in. As these words were being written, rumours and speculation were all...
Policing the internet
27 Nov, 2024

Policing the internet

IT is chilling to witness how Pakistan — a nation that embraced the freedoms of modern democracy, and the tech ...
Correcting sports priorities
27 Nov, 2024

Correcting sports priorities

IT has been a lingering battle that has cast a shadow over sports in Pakistan: who are the national sports...