QUETTA: A bomb planted on a motorbike exploded in a crowded market in Barkhan, Balochistan, on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring 15 others, while a separate blast damaged a railway line in Kachhi district, officials said. The deadly blast occurred in the main market area of Rakhani as a large number of people were shopping.

“Unknown miscreants planted an improvised explosive device in a motorbike and parked it near a busy market area which detonated,” Barkhan Deputy Commissioner Abdullah Khosa told Dawn.

He said that two persons were killed on the spot while 15 others were injured.

Levies and police rushed to the site after the blast and shifted the bodies and injured to the district hospital.

Hospital officials confirmed they had received two bodies with multiple injuries, along with fifteen other wounded.

The condition of at least three of the injured was serious, and they were shifted to Dera Ghazi Khan, officials added.

The powerful explosion rocked the small town, smashing the windowpanes of nearby buildings and badly damaging a car and several motorbikes.

Levies officials said the IED was detonated by remote control and that an investigation was in progress.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident on Monday, unknown armed men blew up a railway track between Aab-i-Gum and the Mach area of Kachhi district, suspending railway traffic.

The explosion injured a railway employee and partially damaged the track connecting Quetta with the rest of the country. Officials said that after security forces repaired the track, rail service was restored in the evening.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2025