Deadly blast in Pakistan's Quetta; 4 killed, several injured

Four people were killed and fifteen injured in a bombing targeting a police vehicle in a marketplace in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Monday, a hospital official said.

"The injured numbers reached fifteen, and four dead,” Wasim Baig, a spokesperson for the Quetta hospital, told Reuters. He added that the dead included one woman, while two women were injured.

Senior police official Shafqat Cheema told Reuters that the target was the vehicle of the acting superintendent of police investigations, which was parked in Kandahari Bazar.

He said initial reports showed an improvised explosive device was planted in a motorcycle parked behind the vehicle.

Two police officers who were sitting in the vehicle were among the dead, SSP operations Zohaib Mohsin Baloch said.

The initial investigation revealed that 4 to 5 kg of explosive was used in the motorcycle, which was detonated by remote control, he added.

This is the second attack on police in less than 24 hours. On Sunday evening armed men targeted personnel of the Police Eagle Squad in Quetta, killing two police officers and injuring another. One of the attackers was killed by police.

Quetta is located in the southwestern province of Balochistan, which has been dealing with a separatist ethnic insurgency, distinct from insurgency by Islamist militants.

Balochistan is home to a number of China-backed economic projects under its global flagship belt and road initiative (BRI), against which some militants have been protesting.

Last week Pakistan launched a new nationwide operation to root out Islamist militants.

"The meeting agreed to launch an all-out comprehensive operation with the entire nation and the government, which will rid the country of the menace of terrorism with renewed vigor and determination," the security committee said in a statement on April 7.