2 children killed, cops among 14 injured in Pishin blast

Two children were killed on Saturday while two policemen were among 14 people injured when a blast occurred at a main market near Surkhab Chowk in Balochistan’s Pishin district, hospital officials said.
The incident is the latest in a string of attacks on police officials and checkposts, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Attacks escalated after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022 and vowed to target security forces.
According to a list of the casualties issued by Dr Wakeel Sherani, the medical superintendent at Pishin Civil Hospital, two children were killed in today’s blast while the 14 injured persons included two women.
Thirteen of the wounded were referred to the Quetta trauma centre, Dr Sherani said.
According to Pishin City Station House Officer (SHO) Mujibur Rehman, the two injured policemen were in critical condition and had been referred to the Quetta hospital after being provided with first aid.
“Apparently, the explosive material was planted in a motorcycle,” SHO Rehman said, adding that as a result, three vehicles were damaged.
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Bomb Disposal Squad have reached the incident site to collect evidence for a probe, the official said.
According to state broadcaster PTV News, the blast occurred near the Pishin deputy commissioner’s office.
Balochistan Government Spokesperson Shahid Rind condemned the “terrorist incidents in Pishin and Noshki”, regretting the loss of precious human lives.
“Anti-society and anti-state elements do not deserve any concession,” Rind asserted. “Terrorists are targeting innocent and sinless people to achieve their nefarious goals,” he added.
The spokesperson directed the provincial health department to provide the best medical facilities to those injured in the blast.
The attack comes days after two pedestrians were injured in a roadside explosion in Noshki district, which the police said occurred when a convoy of Frontier Crops was passing by.
Last month, a blast in Pishin caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) left three CTD officials and three pedestrians injured. Police officials had said the attack was aimed at a CTD vehicle carrying the department’s personnel.
The same day, in a similar incident, a soldier of the Quick Response Force of the Frontier Corps South was martyred and seven others were injured in Kech district’s Buleda area.