Daily Times

A police official was martyred and two more injured in a suicide attack on a police van in Balochistan’s Turbat on Saturday, according to Kech Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mohammad Baloch.

The SSP said according to reports from the district, a police van was targeted in a bomb blast at Chakar Azam Chowk by a female suicide attacker. He added that one of the injured police officers was a female.

SSP Baloch said the bomb disposal squad and security forces had cordoned off the area while further investigation was under way. The deputy commissioner of Ketch district said the woman suicide bomber blew herself up on Commissioner Road in the district. The vehicle of the security forces was also damaged in the explosion, he added. Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo
condemned the Turbat blast saying the aim of terrorist’s incident is to halt the development of the province.

“The objectives of terrorists will never succeed,” the CM was quoted as saying in a statement. He said the provincial government will ensure the welfare of the people and make efforts to end backwardness of the province. “The determination and morale of the security forces cannot be lowered,” he added. Earlier in April this year, as many as four people – including two policemen – were martyred in a bombing targeting a police vehicle in Quetta’s city’s Shahrah-e-Iqbal area.

Balochistan Interior Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove also condemned the incident and sought a report. He said the plans of terrorists at the behest of “foreign forces” would be thwarted and lauded the sacrifices of security officials. “The war against terrorism will continue until peace is achieved,” Langove said and offered prayers for the martyred and injured. In December, four security personnel were martyred and one was injured in an attack in Turbat.

Official sources had said unknown militants had attacked a vehicle of Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan (South) in the Dannuk Gogdan area of Turbat. The FC personnel had engaged the attackers and after a heavy exchange fire, four had embraced martyrdom, including a subedar. It is also pertinent to mention that the suicide bomber of the April 2022 Karachi University attack, identified as Shari Baloch alias Brimash, was born in Turbat in 1991.