QUETTA: At least 21 people, including three children, were injured in two bomb blasts in Quetta and Dera Bugti on Tuesday night.

In Quetta, a makeshift shop selling flags, badges and pictures of political leaders in connection with the Independence Day was attacked which left16 people injured.

Police said unidentified people placed an explosive device near the shop which went off when a large number of people were gathered around it.

Soon after the blast police rushed to the site and shifted the injured to the civil hospital.

According to sources in the hospital, one of the injured was in critical condition.

Three shops were badly damaged by the blast.

CCPO Quetta Abdul Razaq Cheema said a time-device was used for the blast.

Personnel of bomb disposal squad said around half kilogram of explosives was used for the blast.

Shops in the Prince Road area were closed after the blast.

Home Minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti who visited the blast site condemned the attack. He directed doctors to provide best available facilities to the injured.

In another incident, three rockets fired from an unspecified location landed in an open area on the outskirts of Quetta. No one was injured.

Meanwhile, five members of a peace committee were injured in a roadside blast in Jano Peri area of Dera Bugti district.

Levies personnel said an explosive device was placed at the roadside. It exploded when the vehicle of the peace committee’s members was passing through the area.

Published in Dawn, Aug 13th, 2014