5 dead, a dozen injured in Quetta explosion

QUETTA (PAN’s southwestern Balochistan province, police said.

The bombing happened on Sariab Road at about 2pm, local police officer Mohammad Riaz told Pajhwok Afghan News. The dead included Frontier Corps (FC) personnel.

He said the loud blast near a grid station resulted from explosives placed in a vehicle, rocking several buildings in the city. An FC convoy passing by the area was the intended target.

Four FC vehicles were damaged and as many rickshaws caught fire because of the explosion. Local police and FC personnel reached the scene and cordoned off the area.

A doctor on duty at the Quetta Civil Hospital said that four of the wounded people were in critical condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but the province has long been in the throes of a Baloch insurgency and sectarian strife.

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