Islamabad: A policeman was killed and 10 other people sustained injuries in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by unidentified militants in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, on Tuesday, a senior police officer said.
According to initial investigation, the explosive material was detonated by militants when the police vehicle passed by them during its routine patrolling in the city, Deputy Inspector General of Quetta Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema told Xinhua.
“The improvised explosive device was hidden inside a motorbike parked at the roadside. The injured people include policemen who were on-board the vehicle, and passers-by,” he said.
Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that the intensity of the explosion was such that it caused a huge fire which engulfed four other vehicles passing by the area. The fire was later extinguished by firefighters.
The injured people were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta where the Medical Superintendent Waseem Baig said that all of the injured are in stable condition, adding that they were trying to give the best possible medical treatment to the victims.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Police and security forces cordoned off the area and the media was not given access to the incident site, while the law enforcers remained engaged in collecting evidence from the blast site.