A bomb explosion in southwestern Pakistan has killed at least four policemen and injured around 10 other people, including civilians, VOA news reports.
A senior police officer said the deadly blast occurred late Monday in a marketplace in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, where China is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure projects.
The police deputy inspector general, Abdul Razzaq Cheema, told reporters the bomb was planted in a motorbike and apparently a remote-controlled device was used to detonate it near a police van.
A spokesman for the outlawed Pakistani Taliban militant group claimed responsibility for placing the bomb.
The attack is the second in as many days in Baluchistan.
On Saturday, heavily armed gunmen stormed a highly secured luxury hotel near China-run strategic port of Gwadar. The attack left five people dead, including four hotel employees and one Pakistani navy commando.
In the ensuing gunfight, Pakistani security forces killed what officials said were three “terrorists” in security force uniforms to end the siege that lasted several hours.
A separatist group, known as the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA), took responsibility for the attack on Gwadar’s only five-star hotel, called Zaver Pearl Continental. The group also released pictures of four purported attackers.
The deep-water Arabian Sea Gwadar port is considered the heart of the multibillion-dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) bilateral megaproject, an extension of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).