Islamabad, Apr 10 (EFE).- At least four people including a police officer were killed and 11 others wounded on Monday in a bombing targeting a police convoy in a market in the western Pakistani city of Quetta.
The explosion took place at 4.35 pm local time when “a police patrolling van was targeted in Kandahari market in Quetta,” Ghulam Farid, an official at the Quetta police control room, told EFE.
“Four people including one police constable were martyred and 11 others were injured,” he confirmed.
Authorities have launched a probe to determine the nature of the blast, which has not been claimed by any armed group so far.
Pakistan has seen a rise in terror incidents in recent months. The Pakistani Taliban group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch separatist groups have increased their activities against Pakistani security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
The spike in violence in the country has coincided with the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 in neighboring Afghanistan.
The situation has deteriorated further since December, when the Pakistani faction announced the end of the ceasefire signed just a month earlier with the government in Islamabad, which it accused of failing to fulfill its commitments in peace negotiations.
On Mar. 6, at least 10 people – including nine police officers – were killed and 13 others wounded in a suicide bombing against a police van in the conflict-ridden province of Balochistan in southern Pakistan. EFE
According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, January was the deadliest month in terms of insurgent violence since July 2018, as at least 134 people lost their lives in at least 44 militant attacks across the country. EFE
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