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29 March 2024

Pakistan blast kills at least 17, wounds dozens more

Published
By AFP

A "huge" explosion in Pakistan's restive southwestern Balochistan province that apparently targeted a top senator's convoy killed at least 17 people and wounded many others, officials told AFP Friday.

The blast in Mastung district, roughly an hour east of provincial capital Quetta, struck a vehicle carrying the deputy chairman of Pakistan's upper house Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, he told reporters.

"I am alive, it was a sudden blast, broken pieces of the windscreen hit me, I am injured but safe. The driver and other people sitting next to me were badly injured," Haideri said on private TV channel SAMAA.

Television footage showed vehicles twisted by the blast as security forces cordoned off the site.

"The death toll has reached 17 and more than 30 people have been injured," said Dr Daad Muhammad, a hospital administrator.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

"It is not yet clear whether it was a planted bomb or a suicide attack," said police official Safar Khan added.