quetta-blast-11-reut-670
A security official surveys the site of a bomb explosion in Balochistan. — File photo

QUETTA: Mir Ahmadan Bugti, a National Assembly member, escaped an assassination attempt on Friday when a bomb planted in his shoe exploded as he put them on outside a mosque after prayers, officials said.

The blast in Dera Bugti, about 500 kilometres east of Quetta, capital of the restive province of Balochistan, wounded 12 people, but their injuries were not life-threatening, police and local officials said.

Bugti, a lawmaker with the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) party, which is part of the ruling national coalition, left his shoes outside the mosque while he was offering Friday prayers, provincial home secretary Akbar Durrani told AFP.

Someone planted an explosive device in one of them which detonated as he put the shoe back on.

“Bugti’s leg was badly wounded, a helicopter has been arranged to fly him to Quetta,” Durrani said.

In 2008, Ahmadan Bugti’s son Liaquat Ali Bugti survived two separate targeted bomb blasts. Separatist militants, the Baloch Republican Army, had claimed responsibility of one of the attacks.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assassination attempt on Ahamadan Bugti’s life on Friday, but, apart from separatist insurgents, Balochistan is also plagued by extremist militants as well as sectarian violence.

Opinion

Editorial

Climate resilience
28 Nov, 2023

Climate resilience

It is critical to ensure climate resilience of the economy through sound climate-related public investment management.
Condemned to die
28 Nov, 2023

Condemned to die

ANOTHER day in Kohistan, another jirga-mandated murder of a girl. Her ‘crime’: dancing with boys in a video that...
Price of politics
28 Nov, 2023

Price of politics

THE big parties are not at all shy about the high price they have set on political ambition. According to a recent...
Lofty promises
Updated 27 Nov, 2023

Lofty promises

The true test for political parties will lie in the execution of plans they make before the polls.
PSX performance
27 Nov, 2023

PSX performance

THE relentless bulls have pushed away the bears — at least for now. The benchmark KSE-100 index touched a new record...
Democratic imperative
27 Nov, 2023

Democratic imperative

THE recent march in Lahore, led by the Progressive Students Collective, illustrates the urgent call from Pakistan’s...