Pakistan: Two children among three killed in bomb blast in Balochistan market

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 25 (ANI): Two children and a woman were killed on Saturday, while 13 people, including two policemen, were left injured after a blast occurred in Balochistan's Pishin district, Dawn reported, citing hospital officials.
The incident at the main market near Surkhab Chowk is the latest in a string of attacks on police officials and checkposts, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Notably, the attacks have escalated after 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 Wakeel Sherani, the medical superintendent at Pishin Civil Hospital, two children were killed in today's blast, while 14 were initially injured.
13 of the wounded were referred to the Quetta Trauma Centre, where a woman succumbed to her injuries, Dawn reported, citing a list issued by the hospital's managing director, Arbab Kamran.
Five injured people were in serious condition, two had minor injuries and the treatment of three was under way. Two victims have been discharged from the trauma centre, the list added.
According to Pishin City Station House Officer (SHO) Mujibur Rehman, the two injured policemen were in critical condition.
"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 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.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has denounced the incident, saying "cowardly terrorists who attack young children do not deserve to be called humans," according to Radio Pakistan.
He directed for the injured to be provided with the best possible medical treatment and called for those responsible for the incident to be identified and given exemplary punishment.
This attack comes days after two pedestrians were injured in a roadside explosion in Noshki district. According to the police, the attack occurred when a convoy of Frontier Crops was passing by.
Last month, a blast in Pishin caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) injured three CTD officials and three pedestrians. Police officials had said the attack was aimed at a CTD vehicle carrying the department's personnel.
In a similar incident on the same day, a soldier of the Quick Response Force of the Frontier Corps South was killed and seven others were injured in Kech district's Buleda area, as reported by Dawn. (ANI)