Seven security officials martyred in Sibi blast

QUETTA: A bomb explosion at Sibi Jail Road killed at least seven members of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary and injured at least 17 others, soon after President Arif Alvi left from the Sibi Mela being held there, AFP and the Geo News reported on Tuesday.

Police said that 29 injured people were rushed to the district hospital of Sibi, while the medical superintendent Civil Hospital confirmed three bodies were also brought to the facility. The condition of three injured was critical, the medical superintendent said.

Seven members of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary were killed while 17 others including police officers were wounded, according to senior police official Dostain Dashti. "The explosion happened some 25 minutes after the president left the area," he told AFP, adding that initial investigations suggested the blast was a suicide attack.

The blast occurred near an open area where the annual Sibi Mela was being held. A senior official of the Counter-Terrorism Department, Sibi, Hafeez Rind, said the blast appeared to be a suicide attack; however, investigation was underway. According to the police, the martyred soldiers were identified as Hawaldar Lateef, Naik Waheed, Seopy Jalil, Sepoy Aftab, and Sepoy Habib Ullah. They further added that during the blast, six LEAs personnel, 10 policemen, and three civilians sustained injuries. All of them were shifted to Quetta's Civil Hospital.

Chief Minister Balochistan Abdul Quddus Bizenjo condemned the blast and said that terrorists tried to sabotage Sibi's historic Mela (fair). "This act of terrorism is a conspiracy against the hard-working people of Sibi," he said, adding that the provincial government will make sure to foil all conspiracies impeding the development of Balochistan.

Condemning the attack, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan said that a series of terrorist acts was a wake-up call for the government. He said that ANP had repeatedly demanded full implementation of the National Action Plan. “Action must be taken against terrorists without any discrimination,” he said. “The terrorist groups have re-organized. Serious and concrete steps should be taken to avoid further destruction and bloodshed.”