QUETTA: One person was killed while 15 others, including army soldiers, were injured in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday when a passenger bus headed toward Pakistan’s Punjab province was targeted by an improvised explosive device (IED), an official of the paramilitary Levies force said. 

The blast occurred in Khori, a small town located at a distance of 40 kilometers from Khuzdar city in southwestern Balochistan province, Ali Nawaz, a Levies official in Khori, told Arab News. 

He said the bus carrying 30 passengers was headed to the eastern city of Rawalpindi from Khuzdar when it was targeted by an IED blast fitted in a vehicle parked on the M-8 highway at 9:30 am.

“One passenger was killed on the spot while 15 were injured,” Nawaz told Arab News. “Initial investigations by police have revealed that around 25 kilograms of explosive material were used in the attack, which destroyed one side of the passenger bus.”

Nawaz said the injured have been shifted to the District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital and the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Khuzdar.

 “Soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces are among the injured who were traveling in the bus,” he said, without specifying how many of the injured were soldiers. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. However, the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed killing ethnic Punjabi laborers in the past. 

BLA militants claimed responsibility for killing at least 23 residents of Punjab in Balochistan’s Musakhel district in August 2024. The victims were forced out of their vehicles by the militants, who shot them after checking their identity.

Simultaneous attacks were also launched on the same day that killed over 50 in one of the deadliest attacks in Balochistan in recent years. 

Balochistan, a mineral-rich province that shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan, has faced an insurgency for decades which has intensified in recent years. 

Baloch separatist groups and nationalist political leaders accuse the central government in Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources such as gold and copper while neglecting the local population. 

Successive Pakistani governments have denied the allegations, saying they have prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.

Earlier this month the BLA targeted a convoy of paramilitary soldiers in the province’s Turbat city with a vehicle-borne bomb. Five Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed in the attack. 

MULTAN: Kevin Sinclair led a West Indian spin trio to give the tourists a sniff of a series-levelling win in the second Test Sunday with Pakistan on the ropes at 76-4 after day two in Multan.
The gutsy West Indies scored 244 in their second innings to set the hosts a daunting 254-run target on a spinning Multan Stadium pitch.
At stumps, Saud Shakeel was unbeaten on 13 and nightwatchman Kashif Ali on one. The West Indies need only six more wickets to draw the series 1-1.
Pakistan need a demanding 178 runs for victory. They won the first Test by 127 runs, also in Multan.
Sinclair (2-41) opened the floodgates by trapping Pakistan skipper Shan Masood leg before for two and then had the prized wicket of Babar Azam caught for a dour 31.
Azam had added 43 with Kamran Ghulam, who was dropped twice, on two and six, but the lapses did not prove costly to the West Indies.
Gudakesh Motie had Muhammad Hurraira for two and Jomel Warrican dismissed Ghulam for 19.
The day saw 14 wickets fall, after 20 on day one.
In the morning West Indian skipper and opener Kraigg Brathwaite led the fight for the visitors with a gritty 52.
The last four wickets added an invaluable 99 runs before the tourists were dismissed for 244 in their second innings at tea.
Left-arm spinner Noman Ali finished with 4-80 — 10 wickets in the match — while partner Sajid Khan took 4-76, six in the match.
The West Indies were 129-5 at lunch when Noman dismissed Alick Athanaze for six, before the tourists put up a fight that could prove decisive.
Tevin Imlach scored 35 and Sinclair 28 to boost their team’s lead during a stubborn stand of 51 for the seventh wicket, before Sajid accounted for Sinclair and Motie for 18.
Pacer Kashif had Imlach but the last pair of Warrican and Kemar Roach took the total past 240, before Sajid had Warrican caught for 18.
Earlier, Brathwaite led the way with two sixes and four boundaries in his 31st Test half-century.
Noman broke a solid 50-run opening stand by dismissing Mikyle Louis for seven after the tourists started their second innings in the morning.
Brathwaite overturned two leg-before decisions against him before he was stumped by Mohammad Rizwan off Noman.
Debutant Amir Jangoo also batted well for his 30 with three boundaries, before Sajid had him caught in the slips by Salman Agha.
Kavem Hodge was stumped by Rizwan off Noman for 15 as the West Indies slumped from 92-1 to 129-5.