A suicide bomber detonated explosive devices today, Sunday, near a checkpoint in the volatile southwest of Pakistan, killing at least three security forces and wounding 15 others.
Azhar Akram, a senior official said In the police, the attacker headed towards the checkpoint operated by the paramilitary Frontier Corps on Quetta Mastung Road, about 25 kilometers south of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, noting that his remains were found a short distance from the security post after the bombing. Akram clarified that some of the wounded are in critical condition, and that the death toll is likely to rise.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred this morning, but Baloch separatist groups claimed responsibility for similar attacks on security forces.
The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army and the Baloch Liberation Front have been waging a low-level insurgency for nearly two decades to demand the independence of the region, which is rich in gas and minerals. The region is also witnessing the presence of Islamic militants.
Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is a major region in southwest Pakistan, where China is working on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The projects, which included road construction, power stations and agricultural development, cost billions of dollars.
China has also played a major role in recent years in developing the deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. But the region has witnessed attacks on Pakistanis and Chinese working on economic corridor projects.
Last month, a suicide bomber detonated explosive devices near a car carrying Chinese workers, killing two Pakistani children who were playing on the side of the road and wounding a Chinese citizen and a Pakistani
Last month, suspected separatists also threw a grenade at a shop selling national flags in Quetta, killing a man and wounding four others who were buying flags to celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day.
