One person killed and five others were injured when unidentified men lobbed a hand grenade bomb at a stall selling Pakistani flags in Khuzdar district of Balochistan on Wednesday.
Police sources said that the incident occurred at Azadi Chowk, which is the central area of the city.
The hand grenade attack left five people injured. The injured were rushed to district headquarters hospital Khuzdar for medical treatment. The condition of the two injured was serious as per the hospital sources.
Panic prevailed in the city after the blast. The attackers fled the scene unhurt after the attack. While the security forces cordoned off the area and started searching for the assailants.
CM Balochistan, Quddus Bizenjo strongly condemned the explosion and directed the police to arrest the culprits involved in the attack.
Later on Wednesday, a Baloch “pro-independence” armed group, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the Khuzdar attack.
Jeeyand Baloch, spokesperson for the BLA said in a press release that “the fighters of Baloch Liberation Army targeted and destroyed a stall celebrating the so-called independence day of occupying state.” Jeeyand Baloch further said that “on behest and supervision of enemy forces and its secretive agencies, several events regarding the so-called independence day of Pakistan are being held in different cities of Balochistan. The objective of such events is to show a fake image to the world that Baloch people have accepted the Pakistani occupation and they are participating in the so-called national days of the occupier. The stall in Khuzdar was part of the same campaign, the statement read.
The group said that it had already warned the public through a policy statement on 31st July to keep safe distance from such events as BLA will intensify its attacks against the “enemy and its collaborators.”
In a similar attack on a flag stall in Quetta last week, one person died and several others were injured. Responsibility of that attack was also taken by BLA.
It is pertinent to mention that every year in August such stalls appear to celebrate Pakistan’s independence day, however, the stalls become continuous target of Baloch armed groups across Balochistan.