Another blast rocks Chaman; scores injured

CHAMAN: Scores of people including bomb disposal squad members and cops were injured after a bomb went off while it was being defused here on Thursday evening, Geo News reported.

This is the second blast that struck Chaman in less than two hours.

Earlier, a motorcycle bomb killed at least one person and injured several others on Chaman's Trench Road.

According to sources the bomb disposal squad members, were called in to defuse an explosive device planted in a motorcycle found parked on Kachehri Road.

"They were trying to defuse the bomb but accidentally set it off", said a police official.

Three policemen including a SHO and two members of the bomb disposal squad were injured in the blast.

The police fear a rise in the number of casualties.

A number of shops were damaged in the first blast with broken furniture, glass, debris strewn over the place.

According to eyewitness accounts plumes of smoke were rising from the site as the blast set many vehicles on fire.

"Panic pervaded the area as painful cries of the injured echoed in the dull silence that followed the blast. Dazed shopkeepers and shoppers were running around trying to figure out what was going on", said an eyewitness.

The injured and the dead were shifted to Civil Hospital.

No one immediately claimed responsibility and police say they were still investigating to determine who could be behind the attack.

Chaman is a main border town in southwestern Baluchistan, where small separatist groups have waged an insurgency to get more wealth from resources like natural gas and oil extracted from the impoverished province.

It is also believed to be a hiding place for militants and Afghan Taliban.