QUETTA/KARACHI/PESHAWAR: Another explosion rocked Quetta Wednesday evening, the ninth blast in three different provinces of Pakistan in the last 24 hours, raising fears for deteriorating law and order as the historic May 11 polls draw nearer.
At least two people were injured in the latest attack on Jan Muhammad road area of Quetta, the capital of volatile Balochistan province on Wednesday, police said.
Fayyaz Sumbal, the Deputy Inspector General Police Quetta said unknown militants planted a bomb close to a shop in the area. He said two passersby were injured when the bomb went off.
The blast also damaged the windows of nearby homes and shops. The injured were rushed to Civil Hospital Quetta for medical treatment.
This was seventh blast in the last twenty four hours which rattled Quetta. Panic prevailed among the people after the series of blasts.
Terrorist attacks since Tuesday evening in Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan have now claimed 11 lives and have left over 70 wounded.
Fifteen other people were injured in two separate attacks earlier Wednesday.
Militants on motorcycles lobbed a hand-held bomb on Quetta’s Kechi Baig police station, injuring two policemen. Meanwhile, a blast outside a private hospital in the city’s Gailani road area injured 13 people, including two children. Police said the bomb was planted in a cycle parked outside the hospital.
Six people have now been killed in Quetta since Tuesday evening, with over 60 wounded.
The surge in violence across the country has raised questions for law and order and security with general election a fortnight away.
On Tuesday, four explosions left six people dead and up to 45 injured in the city. Banned extremist outfit, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ), had claimed responsibility of Tuesday’s attacks.
Late Tuesday, militants also attacked an election camp of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi.
The blast left at least five people dead and 15 others injured.
A strike was observed in the country’s commercial capital on Wednesday at the call of the MQM in protest of the killings.
Earlier Wednesday, an explosion near the house of a local Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader injured three people in Peshawar's Sarki Gate area.
Meanwhile, two remotely detonated roadside bombs exploded in Dera Ismail Khan this morning when the convoy of election candidate from PK-68 constituency Israrullah Khan Gandapur was passing through the area. No casualties were reported.
Pakistan goes to the polls on May 11 for an election that will mark the first time a civilian government has handed over power at the ballot box after completing a full term in office.
- Reporting by Syed Ali Shah in Quetta and Zahir Shah Sherazi in Peshawar.
