Pakistan Terror Attack: Nine People Dead, Six Injured In An IED Bomb Blast Near Mining Site

(MENAFN- Live Mint) At least nine people died, and several others were injured in a bomb blast near a mining site in southwestern Pakistan, reported Reuters on Friday. The rescue operation is underway.

"A car carrying mine labourers... was attacked, resulting in the deaths of nine labourers and leaving seven injured," Saleem Tareen, a senior government official in Balochistan province, told AFP, adding that it was "an IED blast".

So far no group has claimed responsibility of the attack. The region is struggling with a decade-long insurgency by separatist groups.

The IED blast must have been carried out with the help of a remote control, an official told AFP.

Pakistan bomb blast: When did the explosion occur?

The bomb blast occurred when a truck carrying workers in the Harnai area of Balochistan province reached the mining site on Friday. According to reports, the IED device was planted on the roadside which exploded when a truck carrying coal miners reached the site.

The truck had brought the workers to a mine in the Harnai area of Balochistan province, where Pakistan is battling a separatist insurgency.

"An improvised explosive device was planted at the roadside which exploded when truck carting coal miners reached the site," a paramilitary official told AFP.

The region's deputy commissioner, Hazrat Wali Agha, said 17 miners were in the truck when the bomb went off. The injured people are receiving treatment at the hospital. Two of the injured victims are in critical condition.

Insurgency in Pakistan's Balochistan

Balochistan is a mineral-rich region located in southwest of Pakistan. It covers an area of 347,190 square kilometres (134,050 sq mi) and shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan. The area has been a hotbed of a decade-old insurgency by separtaist ethnic Baloch groups.

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