13 dead in Quetta car bombing

KABUL‘s southwestern Balochistan province, an official said.

Another 30 people were wounded — six of them seriously — in the overnight blast on the Arbab Karam Road. The powerful explosion that was heard several kilometres from the scene smashed windowpanes in nearby buildings.

A senior police officer told reporters the explosive material had been placed in a vehicle parked near the house of ex-state minister Mir Naseer Mengal. Six vehicles parked in the area and 10 nearby houses caught fire as a result of the explosion.

Deputy Inspector General Nazir Ahmed Kurd said up to 50 kilograms of explosives were detonated soon after Shafiq Mengal, the son of Mir Nasir Mengal, reached home from Khuzdar district. But the ex-state minister, his son and family members escaped unhurt.

After the bombing, Mengal’s guards fired into the air, wounding a journalist, who was provided first aid at hospital. The guards did not allow media teams and police to stand near the former minister’s residence.

The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack. The group’s spokesman Meerik Baloch said it was a suicide attack carried out by Darwaish Baloch.

Hours after the attack, six bombs were recovered from the site by a bomb disposal squad reached.

PAN Monitor/mud

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