Judge escapes unhurt in Quetta bomb blast

Four cops among 13 injured

QUETTA: A roadside bomb apparently targeting a judge injured at least 13 people in the city on Thursday, officials said, days after a major attack killed most of the city´s senior lawyers. The judge escaped unhurt.

“The bomb was planted on a bridge in the city, which went off immediately after the vehicle of an Islamic court judge passed by it,” Akbar Harifal, the Home Secretary of Balochistan, said.

The judge, Zahoor Shehwani, survived, he added, but the blast hit his security escort vehicle, injuring four police personnel and nine passers-by. Hamid Shakeel, a senior local police official, confirmed the attack and the casualties.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came three days after a devastating suicide bombing at a Quetta hospital killed at least 73 people, many of them senior lawyers.

Analysts said the Monday’s attack had left a vacuum in the close-knit legal community, which is seen as a crucial force for justice in the country’s most dangerous province.