Quetta: At least 15 people, including 8 soldiers, were killed and 40 others injured after a suicide bomber targetted an army truck in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province Saturday night.

The incident took place when the truck was passing through Quetta’s Pishin bus stop.

“A man riding a motorbike came close to the army truck and blew himself up,” as per sources. It also reported that around 25-30 kilograms of explosives were used in the suicide attack. The explosion was so loud that its sound was heard across the city.

No terror outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. </s> • At least 15 people, including 8 soldiers, were killed and 40 others injured after a suicide bomber targetted an army truck in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province Saturday night. The incident took place when the truck was passing through Quetta’s Pishin bus stop. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
• The injured were immediately rushed to Quetta Civil Hospital. Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said: “We can now confirm that 15 people have died in the explosion today. At least 32 others are wounded.” (Reuters/Naseer Ahmed)
• Paramilitary soldiers and rescue workers at the scene trying to rescue the injured. (Reuters/Naseer Ahmed)
• A man riding a motorbike came close to the army truck and blew himself up,” a senior official of the Bomb Disposal Squad told Pakistan site Dawn. It also reported that around 25-30 kilograms of explosives were used in the suicide attack. The explosion was so loud that its sound was heard across the city. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
• The intensity of the explosion was such that even the three fire tenders which immediately reached the spot could not control it in time. The site of the explosion is in close proximity to the Balochistan Assembly, Quetta Law College, a private hospital and many offices. (AP Photo/ Arshad Butt) </s> A deadly explosion ripped through a vehicle of the Pakistani armed forces in Quetta city the provincial capital of Balochistan, leaving scores of people dead or wounded.

According to the local officials, the incident took place late on Saturday night after a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle target an army truck.

The officials further added that fifteen people including eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and around forty others were wounded in the attack.

Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti confirmed the death toll in the attack but he said only 32 people were wounded.

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility behind the attack.

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa condemned the attack and called it a move by the enemies of the country to deteriorate the situation as the independence day celebrations are underway.

However, he said “our resolve won’t succumb to any challenge.”

Last night’s attack followed almost 24 hours after an explosion ripped through a bus in Bajaur Agency of Pakistan, leaving at least three people dead and around 25 others wounded.

Follow Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook. Stay updated via RSS </s> In Pakistan, at least 21 people have been killed and 50 others injured in a suicide bombing today in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. The attack believed to be targeting the Shiite Hazara ethnic minority community.

The explosion happened this morning in the busy wholesale market area of Hazarganj. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. </s> This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle has targeted a military truck with a bomb killing eight soldiers and seven civilians in the south-western city of Quetta, Pakistani officials have said.

Kabeer Khan, an explosives expert who examined the site, said after collecting forensic evidence that it was a suicide attack and that the attacker had been carrying 25kg of “incendiary explosives” on a motorcycle that he had rammed into the military truck.

A military statement said the bomb also wounded 25 people, including 15 civilians. It said the explosives sparked fires in nearby vehicles. It added that all the victims were taken to a military hospital.

The Pakistani army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, condemned the attack. He said in a statement that it was an attempt to mar the independence day festivities. “Our resolve won’t succumb to any challenge,” Bajwa said.

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Sarfraz Bugti, the home minister for Balochistan, said the attack had happened near a private hospital. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan and has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatist groups who want a greater share of the province’s mineral and gas resources. Militant groups operating in the province have previously claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces. </s> At least 15 people, including 8 soldiers, were killed and 40 others injured after a suicide bomber targetted an army truck in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province Saturday night. The incident took place when the truck was passing through Quetta’s Pishin bus stop.

The injured were immediately rushed to Quetta Civil Hospital. Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said: “We can now confirm that 15 people have died in the explosion today. At least 32 others are wounded.”

“A man riding a motorbike came close to the army truck and blew himself up,” a senior official of the Bomb Disposal Squad told Pakistan site Dawn. It also reported that around 25-30 kilograms of explosives were used in the suicide attack. The explosion was so loud that its sound was heard across the city.

The intensity of the explosion was such that even the three fire tenders which immediately reached the spot could not control it in time. The site of the explosion is in close proximity to the Balochistan Assembly, Quetta Law College, a private hospital and many offices.

The public relations department of the Pakistan military said that 10 security officials were injured in the attack. “Incendiary explosive was used in the blast due to which nearby vehicles caught fire,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)reported. It added that the terrorists had used “incendiary explosives” due to which many vehicles in the affected area also caught fire.

No terror outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that two cars, four rickshaws and two motorbikes caught fire in the explosion. The blast site is being investigated by security personnel and an emergency has been declared in the city following the blast.

“It was an attempt to mar Independence Day festivity in the city,” Dawn quoted the Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as saying. He also added that the army’s resolve won’t succumb to any challenge.

The interior minister will be reviewing the security situation in Quetta during his visit to the blast hit area and would later brief the prime minister about the same, according to a statement made by the Prime Minister House.

Sources told Dawn that a threat alert had already been issued two weeks ago which stated that an explosive-laden vehicle had entered Quetta and there was a possibility of a blast near a crowded place or a market. Since the Independence Day is round the corner, security arrangements had already been beefed up in the area.

Similar incidents have been taking place in the country since the last few months. In June, at least 14 people were killed and 19 others injured after a suicide blast hit the Shuhada Chowk in Quetta’s Gulistan Road area. Three security officials were injured in another attack in Johan area of Kalat earlier in June.

In the Jiwani area of Gwadar district, two navy sailors had lost their lives and at least three were left wounded after their vehicle was attacked in June, just two days after the Kalat blast.

Meanwhile Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain has condemned the Quetta suicide attack.

With Inputs from IANS and Dawn.com

For all the latest Pakistan News, download Indian Express App </s> Pakistan's army says "terrorists" targeted a military truck with a bomb on August 12, killing eight soldiers and seven civilians in the southwestern city of Quetta.

 

 A military statement said the bomb also wounded 25 people, including 15 civilians.

 

 It said incendiary explosives were used and that the bomb started fires in nearby vehicles.

 

 Balochistan Province’s Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti said the explosion occurred near a private hospital.

 

 There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

 

 Quetta is near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan and Balochistan Province also borders Iran to the west.

 

 The province has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatist groups that want a greater share of the mineral and natural gas resources from the area.

 

 Quetta also has been a stronghold for Taliban militants who frequently cross the border and carry out attacks against security forces in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by AP and dawn.com </s> An explosion in Pakistan’s Quetta on Saturday left 15 people dead and 32 others injured, among them both members of the armed forces and civilians. The suspected suicide blast targeted an Army vehicle in the Pishon Stop area.

Among those killed, eight were security personnel, and another 10 were among those wounded, Dawn reported. An emergency was subsequently declared in the city. No one has claimed responsibility yet for the attack.

The government of Balochistan, where Quetta is located, denied that there had been a lapse in security. However, a number of such attacks have taken place in the city over the past few months. At least 14 people were killed in a similar bombing in the Shuhada Chowk area in June.

The attack came two days before Pakistan’s Independence Day, August 14. </s> Islamabad, Pakistan - At least 12 people have been killed and 14 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack near the provincial police chief's office in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, police officials told Al Jazeera.

The explosion on Friday morning struck a police checkpoint near a complex that is housing the Balochistan police chief's office, local police officer Muhammad Akbar said.

At least six police officers were among those killed, Ali Mardan, a senior police officer, told Al Jazeera.

Initial reports indicated a vehicle approached the checkpoint and explosives were set off when the driver of the vehicle was stopped by the police, provincial government spokesperson Anwar ul-Haq Kakar told local television channel Geo News.

"At 8:45am (03:45 GMT), there was an old car, a Toyota Corolla ... that came here near the [police chief's] office and it was stopped by the police personnel. That is when the blast took place," he said.

"There was no exchange of fire, but it's possible that law-enforcement personnel may have fired into the air."

Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent out its spokesperson Asad Mansoor.

Altaf Hussain, local police official, said: "Some of the wounded are still in critical condition. Most are police personnel, as well as a traffic warden."

"It was a suicide attack. They came to the intersection and then blew themselves up there," said Hussain.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the Inspector General's office was the likely target of the attack.

"The attack took place in the red zone, close to the IG's office as well as the State Bank of Pakistan," he said.

"Authorities are saying the IG's office could've been the target."

Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province, has seen frequent attacks targeting government buildings and security forces, as well as civilians.

In February, two bomb disposal squad members were killed and 11 others wounded in an explosion under Quetta's Saryab bridge, local media reported.

In August last year, at least 74 people were killed in a suicide attack on the city's Civil Hospital, while another 60 were killed in an attack on a police academy two months later.

Past attacks in the province have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, ISIL, as well as by Baloch separatist fighters who are fighting for independence from Pakistan.

The province has also seen a number of attacks carried out by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's Al Alami faction, a group with ties to ISIL, known for attacking Shia Muslims.

Targeting CPEC

The resource-rich province is central to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $56bn trade and infrastructure project that seeks to create a major trade route from southwestern China to the Arabian Sea through the Balochistan port of Gwadar.

Security in Balochistan has been a major concern for CPEC, with separatists regularly attacking workers building road and other projects associated with the corridor.

Earlier this month, two Chinese citizens were kidnapped and killed in the province.

Pakistan has established a Special Security Division comprising 15,000 troops to secure the CPEC corridor and projects associated with it.

The Pakistani government and military have repeatedly blamed neighbours India for fomenting instability in Balochistan, although officials have presented limited evidence to back this claim.

On Thursday, Kulbhashan Yadav, an Indian national who has been convicted and sentenced to death by a military court for funding and planning attacks in Balochistan for the Indian spy agency RAW, submitted a confession and mercy petition to Pakistan's army chief, the Pakistani military said.
A suicide bombing took place near a Pakistan army truck in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, leaving 15 people dead including 8 soldiers, while injuring 40 others.