Attack on paramilitary force headquarters in Quetta leaves 10 people and four militants dead
QUETTA: A powerful suicide blast targeting the Frontier Corps (FC) headquarters in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, killed at least 10 people and triggered a shootout in which four militants were slain, according to top provincial ministers on Tuesday.
Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is strategically significant for its vast mineral wealth and as a transit hub for the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Yet, the province has long been gripped by separatist violence, with groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) intensifying attacks in recent years.
So far, no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bombing.
“Ten people, including two members of Frontier Corps Balochistan and eight civilians, were killed in the suicide attack on the FC headquarters today,” provincial health minister Bakht Muhammad Kakar told journalists at the Civil Hospital after the blast. “Thirty-one injured were brought to the trauma center, with five in critical condition.”
