3 Die in bombing in southwest Pakistan

Islamabad, Mar 2 (EFE).- A bombing Wednesday in the southwestern city of Quetta left a police officer and two other people dead, Pakistani authorities said.

Explosives hidden in a container were detonated by remote control as officers exited a police van in the capital of Balochistan province, police spokesman Shehzad Gul told Efe.

He added that 24 other people, including two police officers, were wounded.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast.

“Cowardly terrorists targeted innocent citizens in a terrorist attack,” Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo said in a statement. “Efforts are being made to disrupt peace in Quetta and the province under a planned and well-thought-out conspiracy.”

More than a dozen Pakistani soldiers have died in recent weeks in attacks carried out by the Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist group based in neighboring Afghanistan, and various jihadi factions are also active in the area.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province, has considerable natural resources but remains poor and underdeveloped and is home to only around 12 million of the country’s 220 million people. EFE

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