At least nine police officers were killed and 16 injured on Monday in southwestern Pakistan in a suicide attack on the truck carrying them, claimed by the Islamic State group.
The nine policemen were killed “in an attack carried out by an Islamic State fighter in Pakistan”, according to a statement published by the group’s propaganda organ, Amaq.
“The bomber was driving a motorcycle and he hit the truck from behind,” said Abdul Hai Aamir, a senior local police official. The attack took place in Dhadar in Kacchi district, about 120 km southeast of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province.
The toll could worsen, with eight of the injured in critical condition, Aamir said.
Mehmood Noteai, the Kacchi district police chief, told AFP that the victims were returning from a neighboring district, where they had provided protection for an agricultural fair for a week.
Balochistan 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 – complains of being marginalized and dispossessed of its natural resources.
Tensions in Balochistan 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).
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.
06/03/2023 20:52:39 – Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
