Fifteen wounded in the attack in southwest Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
At least four people have been killed in a bomb attack on a police vehicle in the western Pakistani city of Quetta.
“A police vehicle was attacked in the Qandhari Bazar area of the city. Two police officers are among the dead, while a girl and another civilian died,” Waseem Baig, spokesman for the city’s civil hospital, told Al Jazeera on Monday, adding that 15 people were injured.
Mitha Khan, a police officer present at the hospital, told Al Jazeera that “the targeted vehicle belonged to a senior police officer who was on his way to one of the police stations. The senior official is unharmed, but his driver and gunner died in the attack.”
The initial investigation found that four to five kilograms (nine to eleven pounds) of explosives were placed on a motorcycle that was remotely detonated, Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) spokesman Zohaib Mohsin Baloch said.
Police officers examine a damaged police vehicle at the site of a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan [Arshad Butt/AP Photo]
According to the AFP news agency, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The BLA said two police officers were killed for their involvement “in the inhumane treatment of Baluch civilians under the pretext of investigations”.
This is the second attack on Pakistani police in less than 24 hours.
Gunmen attacked members of the Police Eagle Unit in Quetta Sunday night, killing two police officers and injuring another. One of the attackers was killed by police.
Monday’s attack came just days after Pakistan’s top intelligence agency arrested a “high-profile target” in an operation against a Baluchi rebel group in the province.
In a statement on Friday, the military said the target – Gulzar Imam, also known by the name Shambay – was the founder and leader of the banned Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA), which the army says has been involved in dozens of “terrorist” attacks in the country, including those on security forces.
Rich in natural resources and located on the border between Afghanistan and Iran, Balochistan province has been a theater of rebellion by Baloch separatists for more than 20 years.
The nationalist groups have made demands to share resources and have been initiating a movement for full independence for two decades.
Also on Friday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said the National Security Committee (NSC) had agreed to launch a nationwide military operation amid rising security concerns.
“The [NSC] Meeting agreed to launch an all-encompassing operation with [the participation of the] whole nation and government to rid the country of the threat of terrorism,” said a press release from the prime minister’s office.
The last major operation to counter armed groups took place in 2014, displacing more than a million people while killing hundreds.
Pakistan has seen a sharp increase in attacks on its security forces by the Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP) in recent months after they withdrew from a ceasefire agreement with the government in November last year.
This year, the group and its factions have unleashed a spate of attacks, including a suicide attack on a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar that killed more than 100 people, mostly police officers.
Additional reporting by Syed Abid Hussain in Islamabad.