At least five people have been martyred and 15 others injured in an explosion in Kuchlak, Balochistan on Friday afternoon.
As per initial reports, the blast occurred at a madrasa in Kucklak, a town located near the provincial capital, Quetta.
Officials believe the blast was carried out with an improvised explosive device (IED) that contained around eight to 10 kilograms of explosives.
“The blast was carried out through a timed device that was planted under the wooden chair of the prayer leader,” Quetta’s chief of police Abdul Razzaq Cheema told Reuters.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. “The death toll could increase as some of the victims were seriously injured,” Shafqat Janjua, a police official, told Reuters.
The blast in Kuchlak is the fourth in Balochistan in less than a month’s time.
It comes less than a fortnight after an IED exploded inside a shoe market on Quetta’s Mission Road, killing one man from the marginalised Hazara community and leaving 13 others injured.
A week before, on July 30, five people, including two policemen, died when a powerful bomb tore through a police patrol van at a busy roundabout in Quetta.
