Suicide Bomber Attack in Southwest Pakistan Leaves One Dead, Four Injured
A senior official in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province said on Monday that a member of the country’s paramilitary forces was killed and four others were injured in a suicide attack carried out by a female bomber, according to Reuters.
Bilal Shabbir, the deputy commissioner of Kalat district, where the attack took place, stated: “A soldier from the Frontier Corps was killed, and four others were injured in the suicide bombing carried out by a female attacker.”
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Several ethnic rebel groups in Balochistan are engaged in armed conflict against the central government, accusing it of unfairly exploiting the province’s gas and mineral resources while the region remains impoverished.
One of these groups, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), has previously deployed female militants to carry out attacks, which is an uncommon tactic in the region, where most suicide bombings are executed by male attackers.
Officials said on Monday that at least 73 people were killed in August when separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines, and highways, prompting security forces to launch counter-operations.
