QUETA, Pakistan (AP) — At least 10 police officers were killed and 12 injured when a motorcycle-riding suicide bomber rammed a police truck in Pakistan’s volatile southwest, authorities said, during one of the worst attacks ever perpetrated against the security forces in recent years. month.
No one initially claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened on a bridge in Sibi district, Balochistan province. Similar attacks have been attributed in the past to Baloch separatists and local militiamen.
Police were on routine patrol when the attack took place, said Mahmood Notenzai, the local police chief. The victims were taken to a nearby hospital, where one of the injured officers later died. Sibi lies about 150 kilometers (90 miles) east of Quetta, the provincial capital.
The attacked officers were sent last week to Sibi, where an annual festival has been held under tight security, Notenzai said. A military helicopter evacuated the seriously injured to a hospital in Quetta, where better medical facilities were available.
Last year, a suicide bomber from the extremist group Islamic State attacked President Arif Alvi’s security motorcade as he attended a festival in Sibi. Alvi was far from the site of the explosion, which killed five soldiers. Militia members of the group, known by its acronym ISIS, later claimed responsibility for the attack.
The festival has been held for centuries to celebrate the arrival of summer.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the attack. In a statement, he conveyed his condolences to the families of the dead and ordered the health authorities to provide the best medical care to the injured. He claimed the attack was part of the evil enemy’s plans to destabilize Pakistan and vowed to defeat terrorism.
Also the main elected official of Balochistan, Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, condemned the explosion.
“The terrorists who carry out these attacks are the enemy of Pakistan,” he said, adding that the attack would not weaken the resolve of the police.
Balochistan has long been grappling with a low-level insurgency by the Balochistan Liberation Army and other separatist groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad.
The authorities claim to have put an end to the insurgency, but the violence has persisted. The province has also come under attack from Pakistani Taliban and IS militants.