Cop martyred, five hurt in Quetta blast

• Dead ATF official identified as Muhammad Dilbar.
• Police say it was a roadside IED bomb attack.
• Injured shifted to Bolan Medical Hospital Complex.

QUETTA: A cop was martyred and five others got wounded in a bomb blast near a police mobile van in Quetta’s Kirani Road area.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti on Sunday condemned the incident and paid tribute to the martyred policeman.

The News quoted officials as saying that the deceased was a member of the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) and the explosion occurred when an ATF van was patrolling the road late on Saturday evening. They said three of the injured were in critical condition.

Police rushed to the site and cordoned off the area. The injured were shifted to the Bolan Medical Hospital Complex.

ATF official identified as Muhammad Dilbar lost his life due to serious injuries.

Police said it was a roadside bomb attack. “An improvised explosive device (IED) was planted on the roadside, which detonated when the ATF mobile van passed by,” police said, adding that it seemed that the IED was detonated with remote control.

Five injured persons were identified as driver Saleem, Abdul Wajid, Abdul Malik, Haq Dad and Muhammad Khalid.

Meanwhile, at least seven people were killed and 35 injured in a blast near a passenger bus on Nushki-Dalbandin highway on Sunday.

The situation in Balochistan has been extremely volatile lately. The incidents come days after a major terrorist attack in the Mushqaf area of the Bolan district in Balochistan, along with Khybe Pakhtunkhwa, faced the brunt of terrorist attacks — with both provinces accounting for over 96% of terrorist attacks and deaths in Pakistan in 2024 as per a Global Terrorism Index 2025 report.

Dozens of militants, affiliated with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), blew up a railway track and assaulted Jaffar Express on Tuesday, carrying more than 440 passengers — who were taken hostage.

The security forces, after a complex clearance operation, neutralised 33 attackers and rescued the hostage passengers.

Apart from five operation casualties, as many as 26 passengers were martyred by the terrorists of which 18 were security personnel belonging to the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps (FC), three were officials from Pakistan Railways and other departments and five were civilians.

Also, three FC personnel were martyred in the militants' attack targeting a picket before the train ambush.

Furthermore, the terrorist attack, as per Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, was marred by malicious propaganda on social media platforms.

"The Indian media spread propaganda by using fake videos to exaggerate the situation," he said while terming New Delhi as the main sponsor of the attack.

Meanwhile, the government has announced a compensation package of Rs5.2 million and jobs in the Ministry of Railways to the families of the victims.