QUETTA, June 12: At least four people were killed and 17 others injured, three of them seriously, in a bomb blast in the Sariab area on Monday morning. A police officer had earlier said that five people, including a 10-year-old boy, had been killed in the blast. However, hospital sources confirmed four deaths.

“We have received four bodies, including one of a woman,” Dr Abdul Rahim of the civil hospital told Dawn. The condition of the boy, he said, was serious.

Only one body has been identified as that of Sharkal Khan Pirkani.

“High explosives with a timer were planted on a bicycle parked in front of a small restaurant on the Sariab road,” said Balochistan’s inspector-general of police Chaudhary Mohammad Yaqub, adding that the explosives weighed three to four kilograms.

The explosion occurred at 10:35am outside the restaurant, about 200 yards away from the new Sariab police station. It caused destruction in a vast area.

The restaurant and three other shops were destroyed and half a dozen pushcarts were blown up.

Soon after the explosion, police and personnel of other law-enforcement agencies rushed to the place and took the victims to the civil hospital.

Sources said condition of three of the injured was serious. One of the victims who had received severe burn injures was shifted to the BMC hospital in the evening, they added.

“I was sitting outside the restaurant when the explosion occurred and some hard matter hit me,” 20- year-old Khalil Ahmad told this correspondent in the hospital.

The other injured were identified as Gul Nazar, Imam Dad, Inayatullah, Sarang Khan, Zakir Hussain, Mohammad Rafiq, Niazullah, Sher Ali, Rehmatullah, Niamatullah, Mohammad Baqa, Mohammad Hanif, Abdul Qadir, Mohammad Qasim, Sadam Hussain and Abdul Aziz.