At least eight people were killed and 23 wounded Monday February 17 during a suicide attack in Quetta, the capital of South West Pakistan, we learned from various officials.
A young suicide bomber, who was targeting a religious rally, was intercepted during a police roadblock, Abdul Razzaq Cheema, a police official, told AFP. "While the police seized him, he activated his (explosive) jacket, which killed eight people, including two police officers, and injured 23 others," said Cheema.
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Mohammad Waseem Baig, spokesman for the Sandeman hospital in Quetta and Usman Ali Khan, the administrative manager of this city, confirmed the attack and its toll.
The attack has not yet been claimed. It happened when UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomed the strong security improvement in Pakistan at a conference on Monday in Islamabad. “The evolution is absolutely remarkable. I was here at a time when the Taliban had arrived about 60-70 km from Islamabad. Islamabad looked like a fortress at the time (...). Today, Islamabad is a (city) where UN members can bring their families, where their children can go to school, ” he said.
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According to CRSS, a Pakistani research center, between 2015 and 2018, violent deaths - of an extremist, political or criminal nature - fell by 80% in the country, going from 6,574 to 1,131 recorded deaths.
Bordering Iran and Afghanistan, Balochistan, of which Quetta is the capital, is the largest and poorest of the provinces of Pakistan. Violence perpetrated by local separatists and by jihadist groups regularly occurs there. In April 2019, a suicide attack claimed both by the Islamic State group and by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban left 20 dead and 48 injured in Baluchistan.
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