 A tribal militant died and two people were hurt on Tuesday when a bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely in the Pakistani city of Quetta, police said. Four people were hurt when another bomb damaged a train. The man who died was carrying a bomb on his motorscooter when the device exploded, Baluchistan police chief Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob told reporters.
| "Mahmoud! Look out for the [KABOOM!] . . .bump." |
"He was involved in planting bombs in the city," he said, identifying him as a militant member of the Bugti tribe named Bahar Khan.
| Kinda the Johnny Appleseed of explosives, y'might say... |
"He himself has fallen victim of his own bomb."
Police said two employees of a nearby shop were slightly hurt in the attack. Witnesses saw Khan's headless body lying in a pool of blood on the road.
| "Lose 15 pounds of ugly fat in under one second!" |
Another blast was heard a short time later in Quetta, but the cause could not immediately be confirmed.
| Another bomb, perhaps? No. That couldn't be it... |
A few hours earlier, a bomb planted by suspected tribal separatists exploded on a rail line leading out of Quetta, shattering windows on a passing train, police said. Two railway policemen and two employees of Pakistan Railways were slightly hurt by flying glass. Police said they suspected the attack was the work of Baluch militants seeking greater autonomy.
| Or possibly the work of Baluch militants working for something else. They're pretty sure it was Baluch militants, though, unless it was Pashtun militants or somebody else. |
The militants have been resisting central rule for decades but have stepped up activities in recent weeks with repeated attacks on state infrastructure, including railway lines. In the worst of the recent incidents, as many as 15 people died on Jan. 11 after tribesmen fired rockets at Pakistan's main gas field at Sui, about 400 km (250 miles) southeast of Quetta, cutting off supplies for more than a week.
In other incidents elsewhere in Pakistan on Tuesday, two bombs exploded in the southern province of Sindh, which adjoins Baluchistan, but caused no damage or casualties. One exploded near a police station in the southern city of Hyderabad and the second near a military housing estate in the town of Larkana. Police said it was unclear who was responsible. On Monday night, a bomb destroyed a section of rail line near Dera Ghazi Khan in the central province of Punjab, about 80 km (50 miles) from the Baluchistan border, but caused no injuries.
Last week railway authorities halted night train services in Baluchistan for security reasons. The province has been troubled for decades by small-scale tribal insurgency, but recent attacks have been unusually intense and the government rushed in extra troops to protect the vital gas field after the Jan. 11 attack. Analysts have warned the unrest could explode into a full-scale insurgency if not handled carefully. The government has not ruled out taking military action against tribesmen but at the same time has said it is seeking a political solution to the crisis. |