QUETTA, April 4: Two persons, including naib nazim of Kohlu district, Chengaz Marri, were killed and seven others injured, three of them critically, in a landmine explosion in Batal area of Kohlu on Sunday. The other person killed was identified as Qadir Bukhsh, an officer of agriculture department, who died on the spot, sources said.

"Kohlu's naib nazim had been rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on arrival," officials in Kohlu said. Among the injured, Ghulam Mustafa is the son of the late Balochistan High Court judge, Justice Mohammad Nawaz Marri, according to Kohlu's tehsildar Usman Shah.

Upon receiving the news of explosion, senior officials of the law enforcement agencies and local administration rushed to the scene and arranged shifting of the injured to Dera Ghazi Khan for treatment.

The deceased Chengaz Marri and his relative Mustafa were on their way to Loraki village in an official vehicle along with seven other persons. As their vehicle reached near Koh-i-Batal area, it collided with a landmine and blew up.

"Some unknown miscreants had planted the landmine in the middle of the road," official sources said. A case has been registered against unknown people but no arrests have so far been made.