News / Pakistan

Bomb attack at religious rally kills 10 in Pakistani city Quetta

Monday, 17 February 2020 4:17 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 17 February 2020 6:18 PM ]

A motorbike is seen in flames next to damaged vehicles after a blast in Quetta, Pakistan, on February 17, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

At least 10 people, including two police officers, have been killed in a bomb attack in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan.

The attack, which took place in the provincial capital Quetta on Monday, has also left 35 injured.

A young bomber who intended to target a religious group’s rally in Quetta detonated his explosives after police stopped him at a security barrier, the city’s police chief said.

"As police were searching him, he detonated his vest," senior police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema said, resulting in the killing of 10 people, including two policemen, while injuring 35 others.

People stand amidst debris along a street following a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan, on February 17, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

A local hospital official has also confirmed the casualties, saying, "We have received 10 bodies so far and 35 injured in Civil Hospital."

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan’s restive and mineral-rich Balochistan province is rife with separatist, extremist and sectarian violence and has been the scene of several bomb and gun attacks over the past years.

Late last month, at least five people were killed and more than two dozen others injured in an attack by militants on a police office in Balochistan.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

Balochistan suffers another deadly attack on Pakistani police

A group of candidates were sitting for a police entrance exam when gunmen assaulted the office.

Balochistan was rocked by a series of terrorist attacks in late 2016, raising fears about an increasing presence of armed militants in the area, including terrorists linked to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

Baloch separatist groups and militants in the province have also been engaged in a decades-long campaign against the central government.

Last month, at least seven people, including five police officers, were killed and nearly two dozen others wounded in a bomb blast that struck a police vehicle in the province.