QUETTA: A boy was killed on Thursday when explosives strapped to his body went off near the Chakar-i-Azam Stadium in Sibi where preparations for the annual Sibi Mela were in progress, police said.

The boy, aged around 16, was pedalling his bicycle towards the stadium when the blast occurred. Pieces of his body were found in a radius of 300 feet and shifted to the Civil Hospital.

District Police Officer Ghulam Mohammad claimed that it was a suicide blast. The boy, whose identity could not be established, wanted to target the people busy in preparation for the festival and security personnel present there. However, the teenager missed his target and blew himself up before reaching the stadium, the DPO said.

Panic gripped the small town after the incident.

Hospital sources said the boy’s face was not intact and samples of the body had been sent for a DNA test.