At least nine people, including a traffic policeman and four children, sustained injuries when a locally made explosive device detonated near the Civil Secretariat and Commissioner Office on Quetta’s Zarghoon Road, police and government officials said on Wednesday.
Senior superintendent operations shared that the blast had occurred in a garbage dump under a bridge on Zarghoon Road. He added that further investigations regarding the blast are underway.
The SSP shared that the four children injured in the blast were ragpickers.
Commissioner Quetta Division Muhammed Hamza Shafqaat, in a post on X, urged citizens to avoid the Zarghoon Road for the next few hours.
Despite rendering matchless sacrifices in the war against terrorism, Pakistan has witnessed a spike in terror attacks during 2023, with outlawed groups remaining active.
Hundreds of civilians and armed forces’ personnel have lost their lives to militant attacks throughout the year, while August was the most deadly the nation suffered 99 attacks claiming 112 lives.
At the recent Corps Commander Conference, the military’s top brass had also expressed concerns over sanctuaries and liberty of action available to the terrorists of proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other groups of that ilk in a neighbouring country and the availability of the latest weapons to the terrorists.