QUETTA, Sept 22: At least 22 people, including a journalist, were injured in a bomb blast in Sibi on Sunday. Police said an explosive device was planted in a motorcycle parked outside a restaurant and it was detonated by remote control.

“A bike fitted with a bomb was parked outside a restaurant on Nishtar Road and it was detonated with a remote control device,” Sibi District Police Officer Ghulam Abbas said.

Rescue teams took the injured to the Civil Hospital, Sibi. Some of them whose condition was serious were later referred to hospitals in Quetta and Larkana. The DPO said about 1kg of explosives was used in the blast. According to the bomb disposal squad, it was an improvised explosive device. Sibi Deputy Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Jamali told reporters that law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to capture the suspects. The elements working against peace in the region were involved in the attack, he added. “No doubt, the bomb blast was carried out by anti-peace elements in order to cause human loss and create panic among people.”

The government was, however, determined to foil such designs and maintain law and order, he added. Some of the injured were identified as Saleh Mohammad, Madad Khan, Dad Mohammad, Rizwan Ahmad, Mohammad Malook, Rajab Ali, Amir Bakhsh, Jahanzaib, Sheheryar, Abdul Rahim, Amir Hamza, Mohammad Shakir, Mohammad Iqbal, Mohammad Khan, Ahmad Shah, Noor Ahmad and Abdul Rauf and journalist Maqsood Ahmed.