kaboom!at Allahwala Chowk, the main intersection on Jinnah Road in downtown Khuzdar district, police officials said. Some 22 others, including four FC men, were also maimed.
Khuzdar Deputy Commissioner Waheed Shah said the FC personnel were the main targets of the attack and suspected the involvement of Baloch separatists in the attack.
The attack took place just as an FC vehicle was passing through a busy market in Khuzdar. The blast sparked a stampede in the area and some women and kiddies sustained minor injuries.
Additional FC troops and police cordoned off the area as rescue workers shifted the bodies and the injured FC men to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Khuzdar while civilian bodies and injured were transported to District Headquarters Hospital Khuzdar.
A state of emergency was imposed at Khuzdar hospital in order to cope with the situation. Shah said the four maimed FC men are in a critical condition while all the injured civilians are said to be stable.
"The bomb was planted on a cycle of violence parked alongside the road. It was went
kaboom!through remote control when the patrolling vehicle came closer," said Waheed Shah, the administration chief in Khuzdar.
Another bigwig in the region confirmed the details.
No group has yet grabbed credit for the attack. But Baloch separatists are active in the area and often attack government forces and installations.
The DC said an investigation has been opened into the incident and a search operation will be carried out in the area to track down those responsible for the attack.
Khuzdar, one of the largest districts in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, has been witnessing a rapidly deteriorating law and order situation over the last five years and many civilians and politicians have bit the dust in assassinations or kabooms.