At least five paramilitary personnel were killed and more than 30 wounded when separatist militants drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy in southwestern Pakistan, officials said Sunday.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in Balochistan’s Noshki district. Senior Superintendent of Police Hashim Momand confirmed the casualties, adding that rescue operations were underway. Confirming the attack, the police chief of the local Noshki police station Zafarullah Sumalani said that the initial investigations suggested that it was a suicide attack. “The death toll may rise,” he said, news agency PTI reported.
Sumalani also said that evidence from the site of the attack suggested that a suicide attacker rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the Frontier Corp (FC) convoy.
The assault comes just days after the same militant group hijacked the Jaffar Express in a remote mountain pass, blowing up train tracks and holding passengers hostage for 36 hours. That attack, according to Pakistan’s military, left 31 soldiers and civilians dead.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the latest bombing, as Pakistan grapples with an escalating security crisis along its border with Afghanistan. Meanwhile, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police faced a wave of attacks claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which reported 16 incidents in the last 24 hours.
Authorities have vowed a crackdown on militant groups, accusing Afghanistan of harboring insurgents—an allegation the Taliban government denies.
(With inputs from agencies)