QUETTA, Sept 10: At least 18 people were injured when a powerful bomb exploded on a busy road here on Sunday. According to police, the bomb was in a packet left on a bicycle parked near a restaurant on the Prince Road. Several shops and two vehicles were damaged by the blast.

Police said that the man who had parked the bicycle disappeared in the crowd of people buying breakfast, adding that scores of people were in the restaurant.

A restaurant worker said that the bike had been parked in front of the restaurant for quite some time. He said that he had told the restaurant owner about the suspected bicycle and he had immediately called the police. The worker, in the meantime, had removed the bicycle from there and parked it on the Shawak Shah Road.

However, before police and bomb disposal squad could reach there, the bomb exploded, damaging four nearby restaurants and a number of shops.

The injured were taken to the Civil Hospital.

“We had received 18 injured people but most of them were allowed to go home after first aid,” doctors said. Four of the injured were admitted to the hospital and a woman, Refat Bibi, was shifted to the CMH.

“It was a home-made device packed with 2kg explosives and armed with a timer. It was in a flask which was tied to the bicycle,” SHO Gawalmandi police, Mohammad Aslam said. He added that many people had left the area after hearing about the bomb, otherwise casualties would have been higher.

The injured were identified as Rifat Bibi, Noman, Qamar, Masti Khan, Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Murad, Noor Ahmed, Abdul Qadir, Mohammad Aslam, Babar Ali, Raza Mohammad, Mohammad Saleem, Abdul Waheed and Abdul Rahim.

Police reported another blast in the Shalkot Housing Scheme in the outskirts of the city.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Mohammad Shoaib Nausherwani condemned the blast and blamed it on anti-state and anti-development elements.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he said that the government was utilising all means to crush elements harming innocent people. He termed the bombing an act against humanity, Islam and democartic values.