At least four people were killed and 15 injured on Monday in a bomb attack targeting a police vehicle in southwestern Pakistan, claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army.

The explosion took place in a busy market in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, where local separatist groups and armed Islamist movements regularly carry out attacks targeting the army or the police.

“Preliminary investigations suggest that an explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device that had been placed on a motorcycle and was detonated remotely,” senior local police official Azfar Mehsar told AFP.

At least four people, “two policemen and two civilians” were killed in the explosion, he said.

Wasim Baig, a spokesman for Sandeman Hospital, the largest in Quetta, confirmed the death toll, saying a five-year-old girl was among the dead.

The Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist organization, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The organization did not report any civilian casualties, saying only that two police officers were killed because of their involvement “in the inhumane treatment of Baloch civilians under the pretext of investigations”.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest, least populated and poorest province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been rocked intermittently for decades by a separatist rebellion.

Jihadist groups, such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban, also operate there.

The province is rich in hydrocarbons and minerals, but its population – around 12 million – complains of being marginalized and dispossessed of its natural resources.

In Balochistan, major construction sites of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an infrastructure project for which China must spend more than 50 billion dollars (42 billion euros), have come out of the ground, including its ship Admiral, the deep water port of Gwadar.

These Chinese projects have often created strong resentment in the province, particularly among separatist groups who believe that the local population does not benefit from them, with most jobs going to Chinese workers.

04/10/2023 17:42:47 –         Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP