A powerful blast close to Food Street in the heart of the city rocked the provincial capital of Balochistan late on Tuesday night, injuring only one person but causing extensive damage to public and private property. Police said the blast did not cause any serious injury or loss of life as the cold weather – temperatures have dropped to at least minus 10 degrees Celsius in Quetta – forced people to remain inside their homes.
If the blast had taken place in the evening in during normal weather, it could have caused massive loss of lives, senior police official Nazir Ahmad Kurd told Pakistan Today. The bomb, an improvised explosive device (IED), was attached to the power generator installed outside a private bank at the corner of main Liaqat Bazar and Prince Road. The blast jolted the whole centre of the town, injuring the guard of a nearby office who was inside the building at the time of the blast. Dozens of shops were badly damaged in the explosion.
