In one of the bloodiest attacks on security personnel in recent months, a suicide bomber on a motorbike crashed into a police truck in Pakistan’s unrest-plagued southwest, killing at least 10 policemen and injuring 12 more, according to authorities.
The bombing on a bridge in the Baluchistan province’s Sibi region went unacknowledged at first, but Baluch separatists and local militants have been held accountable for similar acts in the past.
Local police commander Mahmood Notenzai claimed that the cops were on a routine patrol when the attack, which initially claimed nine lives, took place. The casualties were taken to a nearby hospital, where one of the critically wounded policemen later died, he added. Sibi is located approximately 150 km (90 miles) east of Quetta.
Notenzai stated that the cops who were attacked were sent to Sibi, where a yearly cultural festival was held under strict security, last week. The badly injured were flown to a hospital in Quetta, where there are superior medical resources, by an army chopper.
When President Arif Alvi visited the Sibi celebration the previous year, a suicide bomber from the terrorist Islamic State group struck his security convoy. Alvi was distant from the location of the bombing, which claimed the lives of five soldiers. Later, IS terrorists took credit for that assault.
Since many years ago, the celebration has been held to signal the start of summer.
Shahbaz Sharif, the prime minister, denounced the assault. He sent condolences to the families of the deceased in a statement.
Shahbaz Sharif, the prime minister, denounced the assault. He sent his sympathies to the relatives of the deceased in a statement and gave health officials the go-ahead to treat the injured police officers as best as possible. He claimed that the incident was a component of evil enemy ambitions to topple Pakistan and vowed to crush terrorism.
The top elected official in Baluchistan, Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, strongly condemned the bombing.
The terrorists behind these atrocities, he declared, are Pakistan’s enemies, and the nation’s police will not be deterred by them.
The Baluchistan Liberation Army and other small separatist groups have long fought a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan, demanding independence from the Islamabad-based federal government.
