Almost 10 people have been murdered and others injured after a bomb exploded a mini truck carrying miners in southwestern Pakistan.
An improvised explosive device (IED) blasted the truck when it was commuting in the Harnai area of Balochistan province on Friday.
Security forces have been fighting a decades-long insurrection by separatist groups in Balochistan, with assaults in the border areas escalating for the past three years.
“Ten mine workers were murdered in an attack in Harnai district,” Shahzad Zahri, a senior government official, said.
Officials said the truck was carrying coal miners and that most of the sufferers were from the country’s northwestern Swat Valley and other regions.
“An improvised explosive device was positioned at the roadside, which blasted when a truck carrying coal miners sailed through the area,” a paramilitary official told. The official added that it may have been a remote-controlled device.
Local government official Saleem Tareen also stated that the explosion was caused by an IED, saying the victims were on their way to a market when the bomb struck.
The area’s deputy commissioner, Hazrat Wali Agha, informed that 17 miners were in the truck when the bomb detonated.
Several people were severely hurt and rushed to a local hospital. A doctor at the facility stated that two of the victims were in critical condition.
In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated his “commitment to actively working towards eliminating the threat of terrorism from the country.” No group has charged for the attack yet.
However, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is the most vigorous group in the area and frequently executes deadly strikes against security forces or Pakistanis from other provinces.
There is an amplification of violence in Pakistan’s border areas since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
