Bomb kills police chief, guard in SW Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan: A bomb Monday killed a police chief and his guard, and wounded 11 others in a southwestern Pakistani town bordering Afghanistan, officials said, the latest attack to strike the restive area.

The bombing took place in Chaman, a tense border town in southwestern Balochistan province, which has seen many bombings and extremist attacks in the past.

“Senior police officer Sajid Khan Mohmand and his guard were martyred, and 11 others were wounded in the bomb blast,” Balochistan government spokesman Anwar Kakar told AFP.

He said according to initial reports the bomb was planted on a roadside in a motorcycle, which exploded when Mohmand’s vehicle passed by.

Two senior government officials confirmed the attack and casualties, saying police were targeted.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Tribal rebels, Taliban and other militant groups have carried out attacks against security forces in the province recently.

Pakistan has been battling Islamist and nationalist insurgencies in mineral-rich Balochistan, the country’s most restive province, since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.

Bordering Iran and Afghanistan, it is the largest of Pakistan’s four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.