Pakistan has been facing for some months, especially since the Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021, a deterioration of security, especially in the border regions of Afghanistan.
At least nine police officers were killed and sixteen others were injured on Monday March 6 in a suicide attack targeting the truck transporting them to southwestern Pakistan, Agence France-Presse learned from the police. “The suicide bomber was riding a motorcycle and he rammed the truck from behind,” said Abdul Hai Aamir, a senior local police official. The death toll could worsen, with eight of the injured in critical condition, Aamir said.
The attack took place in Dhadar in the district of Kacchi, about 120 km southeast of Quetta, capital of the province of Balochistan. Mehmood Noteai, the Kacchi district police chief, said the victims were returning from a nearby district, where they had provided protection for an agricultural fair for a week.
Balochistan, scene of violence
Baluchistan is the large, poor and sparsely populated province of southwestern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran. It has long been the scene of ethnic, sectarian and separatist violence. The province is rich in hydrocarbons and minerals, but its population – around 12 million inhabitants – complains of being marginalized and dispossessed of its natural resources.
Tensions in Baluchistan revolve in particular around the major construction sites of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)), for which China must spend more than 50 billion dollars (42 billion euros), with the deep-water port as its flagship. from Gwadar. The police there are regularly the target of attacks carried out by the local rebel movements or by the Pakistani Taliban of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
