Five Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were martyred and at least 12 injured on Sunday when an explosion occurred near an FC convoy in Balochistan’s Noshki district on the national highway, officials said.
According to Noshki Station House Officer (SHO) Zafarullah Sumalani, initial investigations suggest the incident was a suicide attack.
SHO Sumalani said that evidence from the site of the attack suggested that a suicide attacker rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the FC convoy.
The injured were being shifted to the FC Camp and Noshki Teaching Hospital, where an emergency has been imposed.
SHO Sumalani feared that the death toll and number of injured would rise since several of the injured were in critical condition.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the “blast near a bus on the Noshki-Dalbandin Highway” and expressed his grief over the loss of five lives.
In a statement posted by his ministry on X, Naqvi expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
“Targeting innocent people is the height of brutality,” the interior minister said, adding that anti-state elements were “plotting a heinous conspiracy to create instability” in the country.
Naqvi asserted that such cowardly acts could not weaken the nation’s firm resolve.
Denouncing the attack, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti vowed strict action against terrorists.
“Those who play with the peace of Balochistan will be brought to a tragic end,” CM Bugti said in a press release.
“Cowardly attacks cannot lower our morale,” he said. “There is no place for terrorists in Balochistan, peace will be established at all costs.”
CM Bugti vowed that all possible steps will be taken to bring the enemies of peace to justice.
“This war will continue till every last terrorist is eliminated,” the chief minister said, adding that everyone in Balochistan is indebted to those who shed their blood for this homeland.
The Balochistan government also condemned the attack, spokesperson Shahid Rind said in a statement.
“Targeting innocent civilians is a brutal act,” the statement said. Rind prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased.
“Enemy elements are trying to destabilise the country,” the statement said. “The people’s morale cannot be lowered through terrorism.”
“We stand with the affected families in their hour of grief,” Rind said.
More to follow
