The balance sheet could worsen, eight of the wounded in critical condition following the attack on a police truck by a motorcycle suicide bomber.
The world with AFP
Pakistan has faced for a few months, in particular since the Taliban taking of power in Kabul, in August 2021, with a deterioration in security, especially in the border regions of Afghanistan.
At least nine police officers were killed and sixteen others were injured Monday, March 6 in a suicide attack targeting the truck which transported them in southwest Pakistan, learned the France-Presse to the police . “The suicide bomber was driving a motorcycle and struck the truck from the back,” said Abdul Hai Aamir, a senior local police official. The record could worsen, eight of the wounded in critical condition, said Mr. Aamir.
The attack took place in Dhadar in the Kacchi district, about 120 km south-east of Quetta, capital of the province of Balutchistan. Mehmood Noteai, the Kacchi district police chief, explained that the victims returned from a neighboring district, where they had provided for a week the protection of an agricultural fair.
Baloutchistan, Theater of violence
Balutchistan is the large province, poor and not very populated, from Southwest Pakistan, border with Afghanistan and Iran. It has long been the scene of ethnic, sectarian and separatist violence. The province is rich in hydrocarbons and minerals, but its population – around 12 million inhabitants – complains of being marginalized and spoiled for its natural resources.
Tensions in Balutchistan run in particular around the major sites of the Chine-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)), for which China must spend more than $ 50 billion (42 billion euros), with the flag In deep waters of Gwadar. Police are regularly the target of attacks by local rebel movements or by the Pakistani Taliban of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).