pak-twin-blasts-leave-3-dead-dozens-injured

At least three people, including a police officer, were killed and 20 injured in a twin bomb blast in Pakistan's restive Balochistan region on Monday, police have said.

 

In the first attack, a police officer was killed and 15 people injured after a bomb exploded at a mosque in the Kuchlak region of the province's Quetta district on Monday.

 

According to police sources, "People were offering Maghrib prayers when the explosion occurred at the mosque.”

 

Another bomb exploded in a marketplace at Umar Farooq Chowk in Khuzdar town, killing two and injuring five, a senior police officer said. A  multitude of people, including women and children, were shopping for Eid at the time.

 

"Police and other law enforcement authorities raced to the scene and transported the bodies and injured to Khuzdar Teaching Hospital," he said.

 

Even as bomb disposal squads reached the sites,  initial indications suggested that both bombings were carried out by improvised explosive devices (IED) hidden in motorbikes parked near Umar Farooq Chowk and the mosque.

 

"It appears that the motorcycle IEDs were detonated using remote control," the official said.

 

No terror group has claimed responsibility for the bombings as yet.

 

There has been an increase in terror attacks of late  by banned outfits and terrorists in the province. 

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for three major attacks in the province in recent weeks in Mach town, Gwadar port, and a naval facility in Turbat, in which security forces killed about 17 terrorists.