At least 4 killed, 3 injured in blast in Balochistan's Mastung: police

QUETTA: At least four labourers were killed and three others injured in a blast in Balochistan’s Mastung district, while two other people were shot dead, the police said on Friday.

The incident occurred in the Garo area of the Khud Kocha sub-tehsil late on Thursday night — the same area where the provincial home minister Zia Ullah Langove survived an armed attack last week, in which nine people, including six security guards were injured.

According to sources, a blast took place late on Thursday night, killing four people and injuring three others. A senior police officer of the area’s police station confirmed the blast and casualties.

“Four labourers lost their lives and three other people received injuries in the blast which took place last night,” he said. However, he noted that the nature of the blast was unknown.

Another senior official claimed that the incident had been a drone attack, adding that the bodies of four labourers were found in the area, alongside two other bodies who had been shot dead.

Police transported all six bodies to Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Memorial Hospital in Mastung. One person who had received serious injuries was taken to Civil Hospital Quetta.

“We have received six bodies and three injured in the hospital this morning,” an official of the hospital said, adding that bullet wounds were found in two bodies, while the other four had received multiple injuries.

Four of the deceased were identified as residents of the Bhag area of Kachhi district. The other two bodies have not yet been identified.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer also confirmed the killing of two alleged terrorists in the area, adding that security forces and police were investigating the incident.

A monthly security assessment released in early June by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said that after two consecutive months of improvement, Pakistan’s security situation deteriorated sharply in May, driven primarily by escalating terrorist violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The report said Balochistan emerged as the most affected province during the month. The province recorded 71 terrorist attacks, compared with 34 in April, representing a 109pc increase.

Last month, authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in Khud Kocha after three people were killed and five others injured in a gun attack on a Karachi-bound passenger bus, while a bridge on the National Highway was damaged in an explosion in the area.