KHUZDAR: At least 14 people were injured, five of them seriously, in a bomb explosion that took place during a football match in the industrial town of Hub, in Lasbela district, on Tuesday evening.

Police said an improvised explosive device was placed near boundary wall of a football ground in Allabad area of Hub town. The bomb exploded when two teams were playing a match as part of the Shuhada Police Football Tournament.

“As many as 14 people watching the football match suffered injuries in the blast that rocked the industrial town,” Tariq Elahi Mastoi, the district police officer, said.

He said soon after receiving information about the blast policemen rushed to the scene of the blast along with personnel of other security forces and shifted the injured to the district hospital.

Hospital officials said that five of the 14 injured people had received serious injuries. These people had been sent to a hospital in Karachi for treatment, they added.

No football player was among the injured, Mr Mastoi said.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2021