Pakistan: Five killed, 15 injured in blast at Kuchlak mosque in Balochistan’s Quetta

At least four people were killed and 15 others injured in a major blast inside a mosque in Kuchlak near Quetta in Pakistan’s Balochistan. According to reports, the explosive material were planted inside the mosque. The blast took place after the people finished their Friday prayer in the mosque in the Kulclak town in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province.

Officials believe the blast was carried out with an improvised explosive device (IED) that contained around eight to 10 kilograms of explosives which was planted inside the mosque, the report said.

"Five persons were killed and 15 others injured in the attack," a police official said. A rescue operation is under way and security forces have also cordoned off the area.

Police said the injured have been shifted to nearby hospitals for treatment, while emergency has been declared at Civil Hospital Quetta.

Police have cordoned off the area and a bomb disposal squad has been requested.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Taliban militants and Baloch nationalist often carry out such attacks. The blast in Kuchlak is the fourth in Balochistan in less than a month's time.

The incident took place three days after a bomb blast tore through a market near a mosque in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province on Monday, killing four policeman and injuring 11 others, officials said.

The explosion in the provincial capital Quetta's Satellite Town area occurred when people were assembling for prayers near the mosque.

The bomb was apparently planted on a motorcycle, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema said.

"Four policemen were killed," he said. Another 11 people were injured in the attack, Provincial Home Minister Ziaullah Langov said. Security forces cordoned off the area.

There has been sudden spike in violence in Balochistan in recent weeks. The attack came two days after a terrorist attack on a luxury hotel in the coastal town of Gwadar in which five people were killed while security forces gunned down the three terrorists who stormed the facility. 

On July 30, five persons, including two policemen, died when a powerful bomb tore through a police patrol van at a busy roundabout in Quetta.

At least 32 people, including Additional SHO Shafaat Ali, were also wounded in the attack targeting the police vehicle parked outside the City Police Station at Bacha Khan Chowk.