QUETTA: Two people were killed and 12 others, schoolchildren among them, injured in a car bomb blast on the Sirki road here on Thursday.

The banned United Baloch Army (UBA) militant group claimed responsibility for the blast.

A UBA spokesperson, who identified himself as Mureed Baloch, called media personnel in Quetta via satellite phone and said: “Our organisation has carried out the bomb blast on the Sirki road.”

Capital City Police Officer Quetta Abdul Razzaque Cheema said 40kgs of explosives had been used in the blast. The bomb, detonated by remote control, was planted in a car which had been parked on the T-Cross Chowk.

He said personnel of law-enforcement agencies, who frequently passed through the area, were apparently the target.

Soon after the blast rescue teams reached the area and shifted the injured to the Sandeman Civil Hospital.

Some of the injured were said to be in critical condition and they were later shifted to the Combined Military Hospital Quetta.

Police said one of the dead was a 55-year-old labourer. However, identity of both deceased could not be ascertained.

Three vehicles, including a school van, and some nearby shops were damaged by the powerful explosion that rocked the area and was heard far and wide in the city.

After the blast security personnel cordoned off the area and conducted a search operation.

Home Secretary retired Captain Akbar Hussain Durrani said one of the men was killed on the spot and the other succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai and Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch condemned the bomb attack and issued directives for the arrest of people involved in it.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2014