QUETTA: At least 13 people, including a child, were injured when a bomb went off in the crowded Kandhari Bazaar on Sunday afternoon, forcing shopkeepers to pull their shutters down.

The injured included vendors and people who were shopping for Eid.

“The bomb exploded when thousands of people were busy in Eid shopping,” said Wazir Ahmed, who runs a footwear shop in the Kandhari Bazaar.

Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch condemned the blast and directed the law-enforcement agencies to arrest the elements involved in the attack. He also issued directives for providing best medical treatment to the wounded.

Police said unidentified people placed the improvised explosive device in a drain near a shop and the entire area was rocked when it went off.

“Thirteen people with injuries have been admitted to the civil hospital,” hospital sources said, denying earlier reports that the blast had left one person dead.

Soon after the incident, police and personnel of the Frontier Corps cordoned off the area and shifted the injured to the hospital. “The condition of three victims is serious,” police said, quoting hospital sources.

“Around half a kilogram of explosive material was used in the IED that was detonated with a time device,” bomb disposal squad officials said after examining the site of the blast.

Windowpanes of many shops were smashed and some vehicles and motorcycles slightly damaged by the impact of the explosion. Shopkeepers closed their shops after the blast which caused panic among shoppers.

Security was beefed up in markets and other places in the city after the Kandhari Bazaar blast.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2014