Bomb blast leaves two policemen dead in Kuchlak near Quetta

QUETTA: A bomb explosion near a police vehicle claimed the lives of at least two policemen in the Kuchlak town on Saturday, Geo News reported citing police.

The police officials were brought to a hospital in critical condition, however, they both succumbed to their injuries and were pronounced dead by doctors after examination.

The rescue teams, according to the police, had reached the site of incident near Quetta to carry out rescue activities.

The senior superintendent of police (operations) earlier said condition of the other policeman was critical.

Police said 8-10 kilogramme explosive material was used in the time bomb on Bostan road that targetted the police van.

In another deadly attack on police earlier this week, a remote-controlled bomb attack on a police van in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's (KP) South Waziristan injured 13 people, including six police personnel and seven civilians.

Police officials said the bomb had exploded on a police van at Kir Kot Road in the Wana Rustam Bazar following which the injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, while one of the critically injured victims of the attack had been shifted to Dera Ismail Khan.

As Pakistan teeters in its struggle to overcome several challenges including economic instability and political unrest, terrorism adds to the country's woes as the terror incidents witnessed a surge in August.

The nation has been reeling under rising violent attacks since the Taliban rulers returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, particularly in the bordering provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The two most vulnerable provinces saw a sharp rise in deadly attacks last month, according to data from the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).

The digital database of security incidents managed by the Islamabad-based think-tank suggested an alarming situation as the number of attacks jumped from 38 in July to 59 in August.

These incidents included 29 attacks in KP, 28 in Balochistan, and two in Punjab.