Daily Times

At least one person was killed and five others were injured in separate attacks in Balochistan on Thursday as the province experiences an upsurge in violence in the run-up to polls scheduled for February 8.

In an explosion in the Sabzal Road area of Quetta on Thursday, one person was killed and another was injured. According to initial reports, the explosion was caused by a roadside bomb and the explosion took the life of a passerby.

Emergency services reached the area of the incident and initiated a rescue operation. Law enforcement agencies also cordoned off the area and started an investigation into the cause of the blast.

In two separate incidents of violence in the province, four people sustained injuries in two separate hand-grenade attacks in Jaffarabad and Turbat cities.

The first grenade attack occurred in the Ghulam Nabi Chowk area of Turbat, leaving a person injured. The second grenade attack took place on the national highway in the Dera Allah Yar area of Jafarabad district, leaving three people injured.

The injured were immediately rushed to the hospital for medical assistance. Security forces immediately cordoned off the sites.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), while expressing deep concern over the terror attacks, sought an immediate report from the chief secretary and inspector general (IG) Balochistan. The country is experiencing a sudden upsurge in violence, a mere week before general elections scheduled for February 8.

A day earlier, unknown miscreants lobbed a hand grenade at the election office of the PPP on Sariab Road in Quetta, injuring five people. According to police, Ali Madad Jatak, the PPP candidate for the provincial assembly seat in Quetta, was not present at the office at the time of the attack.

Miscreants also lobbed a hand grenade at the residence of Mir Zahoor Buledi, the PPP’s candidate for a provincial assembly seat in district Kech.

On Tuesday, a bomb blast on a main road in Balochistan’s Sibi during an election rally led by Saddam Tareen, a PTI-affiliated independent candidate for the NA-253 (Ziarat) constituency, leaving at least four people dead and five others injured. An ANP activist, identified as Zahoor Ahmed, was killed and another injured when armed men opened fire in the Maizai Addah in Qilla Abdullah district. ANP Balochistan condemned the incident and demanded that the government should arrest the culprits.