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Today's Paper | May 03, 2024

Updated 21 May, 2021 03:57pm

At least 6 killed in blast at Palestine solidarity rally in Chaman

At least six people were killed and 14 others were injured in a blast in Chaman on Friday afternoon, Balochistan government spokesman Liaquat Shahwani said.

He added that the explosion took place during a Palestine solidarity rally taken out by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam - Nazaryati (JUI) in Chaman's Murghi Bazaar.

According to Shahwani, 10 of the injured were shifted to District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital Chaman, while the rest were taken to Quetta.

He said JUI leaders Abdul Qadir Luni and Qari Mehrullah were unharmed in the explosion.

The area has been sealed and an emergency has been imposed in local hospitals to treat the injured.

Shahwani strongly condemned the attack, saying terrorists wanted to "destroy Balochistan's peace".

"The enemies of solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians are on the side of Israeli aggression," he added.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani also condemned the attack and regretted the loss of lives.

"Terrorist elements do not deserve any leniency. No one will be allowed to disturb the law and order of the province," he said.

The chief minister expressed condolences with the families of those killed and directed authorities to provide the best available medical facilities to the injured.

The incident comes a month after a powerful bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel in Quetta, killing at least five people and wounding 12 others.

There has been an uptick in violence in Balochistan, with several incidents of terrorism being reported last year.

On April 13, at least 12 people were injured in an explosion during a football tournament being held at a ground in Allahbad Town located in Balochistan's industrial town of Hub. The tournament was dedicated to police martyrs.

On October 16, seven soldiers of Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan and seven security guards were martyred in an 'encounter' with a "large number of terrorists" while escorting a convoy of state-run Oil & Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL) on the Makran Coastal Highway in Ormara.

The convoy was on its way to Karachi from Gwadar when it came under attack.

In August last year, at least eight people, including police and FC personnel, were injured in a blast in Hub.

In April 2019, at least 14 people, including 11 personnel of Navy, Air Force and Coast Guards, were killed by gunmen after they were picked out with the help of their computerised national identity cards (CNICs) and offloaded from seven buses in the Buzi Pass area near Ormara.

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