Representative image. A roadside bomb blast in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, August 24, killed at least two children.
| Photo Credit: AP

A roadside bomb attached to a motorcycle went off near a police office in restive south-western Pakistan on Saturday (August 24, 2024), killing at least two children and wounding 15 people, authorities said.

Local police official Mujirbur Rehman said the bomb seemed to have been detonated using a remote control and that an investigation was ongoing. He also said some of those wounded included policemen and passersby and some were hospitalized in critical condition.

The bodies of the dead were also transported to a nearby hospital, Mr. Rehman added.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that happened in Pishin, a district in Balochistan province. However, suspicion is likely to fall on separatist groups who have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denounced the bombing in a statement and mourned the slain children, saying those behind the attack “do not deserve to be called humans.” He also vowed to continue the “war against terrorists and their facilitators until they are eliminated.”

For years, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted.

Peshawar:

At least seven Pakistan Army soldiers including two officers, were killed when six terrorists launched multiple suicide attacks on a security check post in the restive tribal district of North Waziristan bordering Afghanistan on Saturday, the military said.

A Lieutenant Colonel and a Captain were killed along with five soldiers. All the six terrorists who attacked the check post in Mir Ali area were shot dead.

According to the ISPR statement, after the troops foiled the initial attempt of intrusion, the terrorists rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the post, followed by multiple suicide bombing attacks.

During the subsequent clearance operation, troops effectively engaged and killed all six terrorists.

However, during the intense exchange of fire, Lieutenant Colonel Syed Kashif Ali and Captain Muhammad Ahmed Badar were killed, the statement said.

The military’s media wing said a sanitisation operation was being conducted to eliminate any other terrorists present in the area.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur condemned the attack and expressed grief over the death of the soldiers.

According to an annual security report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations in 2023 – marking a record six-year high.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces were the primary centres of violence, accounting for over 90 per cent of all fatalities and 84 per cent of attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gunmen shot and killed six construction workers overnight in the volatile southwestern Baluchistan province, Pakistani police said Saturday, October 14, 2023.

Police officer Hidayatullah Dashti said gunmen opened fire overnight at eight construction workers in the city of Turbat, about about 606 km south of Quetta — the capital of the province. Two survived, he said, and were hospitalisd for treatment.

Mr. Dashti said the workers were part of a private construction project in the city.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

For nearly two decades, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by the Baluchistan Liberation Army and other separatist groups demanding independence from the central government in the capital, Islamabad. Baluch separatists also often target people from Punjab.

Punjabi and Sindhi workers were previously targeted.

Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted.

Islamic militants also operate in the region.