GWADAR: A man was killed and eight other people were injured in a bomb blast targeting a pro-government leader on Monday, officials said.

The banned Baloch Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.

According to police, unidentified people attached an explosive device with a motorbike and parked it at the main square of the Chitkan Bazaar of Panjgur town.

The device was detonated by remote control when the vehicle of Kamran Mengal, the pro-government leader, was passing through the place of the occurrence. The vehicle was blown up and the younger brother of Mr Mengal was killed and eight others were injured. Mr Mengal was among the wounded. Personnel of the Frontier Corps and police rushed to the site and cordoned off the area. They shifted the body and the injured to the FC hospital.

“The vehicle of Mr Mengal was targeted in the blast,” security officials said.

The deceased was identified as Suleman Ismail and the injured included Bashir Ahmed, Omer Jan, Shahbaz, Prince Habibullah, Muhammad Haroon, Khuda-i-Dad and Pervez Ahmed.

The condition of Mr Mengal and two others was said to be serious.

Several nearby shops were damaged while windowpanes of buildings were smashed by the impact of the blast. Security forces launched a search operation in the area to trace the elements involved in the attack.

Bashir Bangulzai, the commissioner of Makran region of which Panjgur is a part, confirmed the details, adds AFP. On Sunday, a teenage boy and his mother and sister were also killed in an area on the outskirts of Panjgur when the child was playing with a hand-grenade found near his house.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2018