QUETTA: Five police personnel were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Quetta's Eastern Bypass area on Tuesday, police sources said.

A contingent of police were patrolling the area in a mobile van when they were targeted through an IED, they said.

Five police officials were left injured in the blast, which left the police vehicle damaged.

The injured personnel were rushed to Civil Hospital Quetta for treatment. Doctors described condition of one of the injured as critical.

Police and Frontier Corps personnel reached the blast site, as an investigation into the incident went underway.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Militants in the area have been targeting security forces in the past.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province, has remained under the grip of violence for over a decade which has claimed thousands of lives.