QUETTA: A powerful suicide blast targeting the Frontier Corps (FC) headquarters in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, killed at least 10 people and triggered a shootout in which four militants were slain, according to top provincial ministers on Tuesday.
Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is strategically significant for its vast mineral wealth and as a transit hub for the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Yet, the province has long been gripped by separatist violence, with groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) intensifying attacks in recent years.
So far, no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bombing.
“Ten people, including two members of Frontier Corps Balochistan and eight civilians, were killed in the suicide attack on the FC headquarters today,” provincial health minister Bakht Muhammad Kakar told journalists at the Civil Hospital after the blast. “Thirty-one injured were brought to the trauma center, with five in critical condition.”
Witnesses said a plume of smoke rose from the site on Quetta’s Haali Road, followed by gunfire that lasted more than 10 minutes.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti said in televised remarks a suicide bomber drove a pickup truck into the compound to carry out the blast.
He added that several gunmen then stormed the headquarters, sparking a firefight in which paramilitary forces promptly killed four militants.
He condemned the bombing as a “cowardly act” and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to making the province peaceful and secure.
Bugti also expressed solidarity with the victims’ families and prayed for the swift recovery of the injured.
Separatist militant groups in Balochistan accuse Pakistan of depriving locals of a fair share in the province’s natural resources, allegations Islamabad denies.
However, the province has witnessed a string of high-profile attacks since the beginning of the year. In March, the BLA hijacked a passenger train, and in May, a suicide bombing in Khuzdar killed several children after targeting their school bus.
Security forces, civilians and non-local workers are frequently targeted by separatist groups in the region, though authorities have mainly relied on intelligence-based operations rather than launching a full-scale military campaign.
