3 security men killed, 16 injured in Mastung attack

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Three security personnel were killed and 16 others wounded in a bomb attack in southwestern Balochistan province on Tuesday morning.

Local officials said the casualties occurred on the Dasht road in Mastung district, where a vehicle of the Balochistan Constabulary struck a roadside bomb.

Provincial government spokesman Shahid Rind confirmed the vehicle carrying policemen from Kalat was attacked with an improvised explosive device (IED).

In a statement, he said:“Three personnel of the Balochistan Constabulary lost their lives in the blast.” At least 16 others were injured in the explosion, two of them critically.

Rind added the injured were evacuated to a nearby hospital while those in serious condition were being taken to Quetta, about 50 kilometres from Mastung.

According to the official, the constabulary personnel had been deployed at a protest sit-in by the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M).

The sit-in at Mastung against the arrests of Baloch activists entered its 19th day today. On the second day of their protest, BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal and others had escaped unhurt in a suicide bombing near their rally site, Dawn reported.

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