An explosion killed one person and injured another 16, including three women and two children, around Quetta’s Bacha Khan Chowk area Sunday evening.
The bomb blast smashed windows of nearby shops and plazas and also damaged vehicles parked nearby.
According to Quetta Capital City Police Officer Razzak Cheema, the bomb, which went off with a loud explosion, was planted in a motorcycle parked in the area.
The injured were rushed to Civil Hospital Quetta where emergency was imposed to provide urgent treatment to those injured in the explosion. Injured were identified as Mohsin Ali, Gul Baran, Noor Muhammad, Qila Khan, Yunus Khan, Abid Shah, Zainullah, Abdul Qadir, Abdullah, Sher Khan, Adam Khan, Naseem Bukhari, Abdul Ali, Fida Muhammad, Bibi Saima and Bibi Nekzada.
Bacha Khan Chowk is a business centre located in the heart of Balochistan’s capital city. The area was at its busiest when the blast occurred. Shopping centres and shops in the area were closed and traffic suspended after the blast. Police and Frontier Corps officials reached the site and an investigation into the incident is underway.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch taking the notice of the blast has sought reports from the authorities concerned. He also directed for provided best possible treatment facilities to those injured in the incident.
Incidents of targeted killing in Quetta have picked up recently. Two people belonging to the Shia Hazara community were gunned down on May 27. The two were sitting in their cloth shop in a shopping plaza in MeCongi Road area when they were shot dead. Another person was injured in the attack.
In another attack on June 7, unidentified assailants killed five people belonging to the Hazara community in Bacha Khan Chowk. Police sources had said suspected militants opened fire at two shops near Bacha Khan Chowk, killing four people on the spot while one passed away at the hospital.
On June 11, four policemen were killed in an attack on their van in Quetta’s Pashtoonabad area. Authorities have been conducting raids in the city to arrest militants and put a check on acts of violence that have haunted Quetta for a while now.