Bomb explosion kills five, injures 17 in SW Pakistan

A powerful bomb explosion has killed at least five people and injured 17 others in the troubled southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, security sources say.

The casualties come after a bomb went off in a market near the main Double Road area in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province.

“Apparently, the bomb was planted in a bicycle parked in the market,” said Azhar Shah, a senior regional police official.

The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for necessary medical treatment.

“We have received five dead bodies and 17 injured people from the blast site,” media outlets quoted a senior medic at Quetta’s civil hospital as saying.

Law enforcement agencies say they have launched an investigation into the deadly bombing.

Quetta has experienced a fresh spate of violence and militancy over the past few months. Militant attacks and bomb explosions have killed hundreds of people in the volatile city so far this year.

Pro-Taliban militants and some Baloch insurgent groups have carried out numerous attacks against security forces as well as civilians and managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani army.

The Pakistani army has launched several fresh operations in the troubled northwestern and southwestern regions in a bid to flush out militants from the volatile areas.

Despite the Pakistani government’s operations against militants, they have still been able to spread their influence in various regions of the country and kill thousands of people, who have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror.