Karachi: At least five security personnel were killed and 28 others injured on Tuesday in a blast in Sibi district of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province during President Arif Alvi’s visit to the area to attend an annual cultural festival, police said.
The blast took place near an open area where the festival was being held.
“Five security personnel were killed in the explosion,” officials said.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is home to a long-running violent insurgency. Baloch insurgent groups have previously carried out several attacks targeting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and security personnel in the region.
According to local media reports, the blast took place after President Alvi, who had attended the annual festival, had left the area.
“The blast took place 30 minutes after President Alvi attended the festival in Sibi,” counter-terrorism department official Hafeez Rind was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.
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Rind said that it appeared to be a suicide blast. However, the investigation is underway.
At least 28 injured were brought to the civil hospital, while five of them were in critical condition, Coordinator Balochistan health department Dr Wasim Baig said.
Medical superintendent civil hospital Dr Sarwar Hashmi said that most of the injured were security personnel.
“Five of the critically injured were moved to Quetta, the provincial capital,” Hashmi added.
Balochistan chief minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo strongly condemned the attack and directed authorities to provide the best possible medical treatment to those injured in the explosion.
On Friday, an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Shia mosque in Peshawar during congregation, killing 63 people and wounding over 200 others.
On March 2, a bomb exploded near a police van in Quetta’s Fatima Jinnah Road, killing three people, including a senior police officer, and injuring 24 others.
At least 20 militants and nine soldiers were killed in the attack on security forces in Balochistan’s Panjgur and Naushki area on February 2.
(PTI)