QUETTA, Oct 20: At least five Bugti tribesmen riding in a passenger wagon were killed and 16 others were injured, four of them seriously, after a bomb, planted in a white pick-up parked near the wagon, exploded on Saturday.

“Four passengers of the wagon were killed on the spot and another one died while being taken to hospital,” Najam Tareen, District Police Officer of Dera Bugti, confirmed to Dawn by telephone. He said it was a remote-controlled bomb.

According to sources, the pick-up, owned by Mir Ahmadan Bugti, a pro-government tribal elder, had been parked by his driver at Tehsil Chowk, before he went into a nearby hotel for taking tea. After 10 minutes, the bomb exploded.

The Baloch Republican Army, an unknown organisation, has claimed responsibility for the blast, saying its target was Mir Ahmedan Bugti and his sons.

Splinters of the bomb and flying wreckage of the pick-up hit the Sui-bound passenger wagon, which was ready for departure, resulting in the casualties.

Police and personnel of other law-enforcement agencies reached the spot and removed the dead and the injured to Dera Bugti Civil Hospital, where doctors confirmed death of four people.

“We received 21 victims, four of whom were brought dead,”

Dr Mohammad Ismail, the Medical Superintendent of Dear Bugti Civil Hospital, told Dawn. Five of the injured were admitted to hospital and were sent to Rahimyar Khan because of the serious nature of their injuries.

He said the condition of four of the injured was very serious as they had received multiple head injuries.

Witnesses said the blast was very strong and its bang was heard in a vast area of Dera Bugti.

“The pick-up caught fire immediately after the blast and splinters and parts of the pick-up badly hit passengers sitting in the wagon,” police sources said, adding that some parts of the pick-up were found 500 metres away from the scene.

Four bodies were burnt beyond recognition. Some pedestrians and a number of people sitting in a hotel also received injuries.

The dead were identified as Mehirullah Bugti, Sanjar Bugti, Dal Murad Bugti, Wahid Bakhsh Bugti and Ghulam Hussain Bugti. The bodies were handed over to relatives.

Police sources said it was a locally-made, 10-kilogramme bomb, activated by a remote control.

“We are investigating the incident and soon culprits would be identified,” Raja Shabir, DSP of Dera Bugti, told Dawn.

Meanwhile, an unknown caller identifying himself as Sarbaz Baloch and claiming to be a spokesman for the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), told newsmen by telephone from an unknown place that his organisation was behind the blast.

“We wanted to target Mir Ahmedan Bugti and his sons.”