Pakistan: Roadside bomb blast kills 10 in Balochistan

ISLAMABAD: At least 10 people were killed and six injured a bomb planted by the road exploded as a pickup truck carrying coal mine workers went by in Harnai district of southwestern Balochistan province on Friday, officials said.

Hazrat Wali Kakar, Harnai’s top civilian official, said the bomb was an improvised explosive device (IED). “Ten mining workers were killed in the attack,” Kakar said.

Saleem Tareen, another local official, said most of the victims were from the country’s northwestern Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. “The labourers were traveling to a market in Harnai,” he added. Harnai lies some 160 km east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

Authorities said they were investigating the attack, with officials saying evidence was being collected and that preliminary investigation showed the explosive material had been planted on the roadside.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. But the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a militant organisation fighting for independence, is active in the restive province that borders Afghanistan and Iran. The group usually targets security forces as well as Pakistanis from other provinces. Local media reported that most of the workers killed or injured came from KP’s Puran village.

The BLA has also targeted Chinese projects in the region, arguing that foreigners are exploiting resource-rich Balochistan while the impoverished residents are left behind.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif responded to the incident by reaffirming his commitment to aggressively working to eradicate terrorism in the country.