Representative image. A roadside bomb blast in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, August 24, killed at least two children.
| Photo Credit: AP

A roadside bomb attached to a motorcycle went off near a police office in restive south-western Pakistan on Saturday (August 24, 2024), killing at least two children and wounding 15 people, authorities said.

Local police official Mujirbur Rehman said the bomb seemed to have been detonated using a remote control and that an investigation was ongoing. He also said some of those wounded included policemen and passersby and some were hospitalized in critical condition.

The bodies of the dead were also transported to a nearby hospital, Mr. Rehman added.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that happened in Pishin, a district in Balochistan province. However, suspicion is likely to fall on separatist groups who have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denounced the bombing in a statement and mourned the slain children, saying those behind the attack “do not deserve to be called humans.” He also vowed to continue the “war against terrorists and their facilitators until they are eliminated.”

For years, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted.