Four killed in bombing in Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province

At least four people have been killed in a roadside bomb attack beside a vehicle transporting villagers in Pakistan’s southwestern restive province of Balochistan near the border with Iran.

The terrorist attack was carried out in Chedgi, a remote and sensitive rural area located some 70 kilometers from the town of Panjgur, near the Pakistan-Iran border, on Saturday, reported regional government administrator Jabbar Baluch.

Baluch said at least five others had sustained injuries in the incident, adding that it was unclear at the time who planted the explosive on the road. Police and security officers were still investigating the incident, he said.

The latest bomb attack came a few days after Balochistan Health Minister Rahmat Saleh Baloch’s convoy came under attack by up to 12 rockets in the same area.

The impoverished province has long been plagued by an insurgency by nationalist and separatist groups who seek to secure bigger shares in regional resources. The resulted chaos, coupled by lack of security, gave room for the activities of criminal gangs, human smugglers and terror outfits linked to Taliban and al-Qaeda, further deteriorating the security situation in the province.

Despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani army, a series of bombings and shooting attacks by these groups in the past several years has continued to target civilians as well as members of security forces.

SS