Balochistan; blast occurred near police line in Pishin

Two children died while fourteen others got injured, including two police officers in an explosion that occurred at a large market near Surkhab Chowk in Balochistan’s Pishin district on Saturday.

TTP attacks on security personnel intensified after the banned TTP breach ceasefire deal with the government in 2022. This attack is the most recent one in a series of assaults on police officers and checkpoints, specifically in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Dr Wakeel Sherani, the medical superintendent at Pishin Civil Hospital, issued a list of casualties, stating that two women and two children were among the 14 injured in today’s blast. He further added that thirteen of the injured were sent to the trauma centre in Quetta.

Pishin City Station House Officer (SHO) Mujibur Rehman said that after giving initial first aid to two injured police officers, they were shifted to the Quetta trauma centre due to their critical condition. SHO Rehman said in a media briefing, “It appears that the explosive material was planted in a motorcycle”. He further said three vehicles were also harmed in the blast.

Initial reports stated that the explosion happened close to the Pishin deputy commissioner’s office. The Bomb Disposal Squad and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had also reached the scene to gather information for an investigation.

Shahid Rind, the spokesperson for the Balochistan government, expressed condolences for the loss of innocent lives and condemned the “terrorist incidents in Pishin and Noshki.” He went on, “Terrorists are using innocent people to achieve their intentions, and these anti-state elements do not deserve any concession.”

The incident occurred following a recent blast in Noshki, which happened when a convoy of Frontier Corps was driving by. Last month, an explosion in Pishin also injured. Three CTD officers and three passersby. The same day a soldier from the Frontier Corps South was killed and seven others were injured.