QUETTA: Six people, including five Levies Force personnel, were injured on Monday when a remote-controlled bomb targeted the convoy of Kech Deputy Commissioner (DC) Major (retd) Bashir Barech in Turbat, Balochistan, police said.
According to Kech Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Captain (retd) Zohaib Mohsin, the explosion occurred on Press Club Road, where a motorcycle packed with explosives was detonated remotely as the DC’s convoy passed by.
“The bomb was planted in a motorcycle and triggered using a remote control. Five Levies personnel and a passerby were injured in the blast,” the SSP told *Dawn.com*. He confirmed that DC Barech escaped unhurt, though one of the official vehicles in the convoy was badly damaged.
Police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel quickly cordoned off the area following the explosion, and bomb disposal and investigation teams were dispatched to gather evidence from the site. Authorities are yet to determine the group responsible for the attack.
The injured were shifted to the Turbat Teaching Hospital, where their condition was reported to be stable.
Balochistan has seen a renewed wave of terrorist attacks in recent months, mostly targeting security and law enforcement agencies. The surge in violence has been linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) decision to end its ceasefire with the government in late 2022.
Just earlier this month, a bomb blast on a railway track near Dera Murad Jamali disrupted train services across the province, killing a railway employee. In September, multiple deadly incidents struck Quetta, Mastung, and Chaman, leaving dozens dead and injured.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, addressing the *Balochistan Workshop* in Islamabad on Saturday, expressed concern over the rise in terrorism across the province, calling for a comprehensive review of the “factors that led to the unrest.”
Authorities in Balochistan have vowed to intensify counterterrorism operations to restore peace in the region, which has long faced insurgent violence and attacks on security forces.
