Pakistan: deadly suicide bombing near Afghan border
Pakistani security forces examine the site of the suicide attack which left at least 4 dead and around 20 injured near a checkpoint in Quetta, not far from the Afghan border, on September 5, 2021. AFP - BANARAS KHAN
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A motorcycle suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday in Quetta, southwest Pakistan, killing at least four Pakistani paramilitaries, including civilians, police said.
Advertising
Read more
The suicide bomber targeted members of the Frontier Corps in the Mian Ghundi neighborhood of Quetta.
The city is located near the Afghan border.
The suicide bombing took place when merchants from the Shiite Hazara community were selling vegetables.
Three paramilitaries were killed instantly and a fourth later died of his injuries, senior police official Azhar Akram said.
Seventeen others were injured as well as two civilians, he added.
Three of them are currently in critical condition.
A spokesman for the Pakistani police counterterrorism section confirmed the attack.
►
To read also: Afghanistan: the head of Pakistani military intelligence in Kabul
Hazaras regularly targeted
The Hazara Shiites, a minority in a predominantly Sunni country, are regularly victims of attacks by Sunni Islamists, who consider them heretics.
The paramilitaries responsible for monitoring and controlling the Afghan-Pakistani border have suffered attacks for several years in this region of Baluchistan, where separatist militants are raging demanding more autonomy.
►
To listen: Grand Reportage au Pakistan: Shiites Hazaras discriminated against and targeted
(With agencies)
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Pakistan
Afghanistan
Terrorism