Pakistan pledges to control 'new wave' of terrorism after ISIS attack on police

QUETTA -- A suicide bomber killed nine people and wounded 13 others in an attack on a Balochistan constabulary van Monday (March 6), officials said, with the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) later claiming responsibility.

The blast occurred at 10am on the Kambri bridge in the area bordering the Sibi and Kachhi districts of Bolan, said Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.

He said the police van was returning to Quetta from Dhadar, where personnel were posted for duty at a Sibi cultural festival, Dawn reported.

The officers had been protecting a week-long cattle show, Kachhi Senior Superintendent of Police Mahmood Notezai said.

"The van collided with a motorcycle that was being driven by a suicide bomber. As a result, nine people were martyred, of which one was a civilian," Sanaullah said.

At least three of the injured remain in critical condition, he said.

Photos of the aftermath showed the police truck upside down on the road with its windows shattered.

At a news conference in Islamabad, Sanaullah stressed that law enforcement agencies, including police and counter-terrorism departments, were working together to eliminate terrorism from Pakistan.

Despite the prevailing economic situation and ongoing austerity measures, he said, "no cut has been made in the resources being provided to law enforcement agencies to maintain peace".

"With the resolute resolve of the nation, we will soon control this new wave of terrorism," he promised.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo condemned the attack, saying terrorist elements sought to accomplish their wicked aims through cowardly actions.

"All such conspiracies will be made unsuccessful with the public's support," Bizenjo said in a statement. "The sacrifices of the martyred will not go to waste."

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a Monday night statement published by its propaganda arm, Amaq.

"Terrorism in Balochistan is part of a nefarious agenda to destabilise the country," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement.

President Arif Alvi meanwhile vowed that "terrorists would not be successful in carrying out their nefarious agenda", APP reported.

Attacks on the rise

Security forces have been battling a years-long insurgency by militants in Balochistan, as well as attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Attacks have been on the rise in Pakistan since political changes in Afghanistan in August 2021, emboldening militant groups along the border that have increasingly targeted security forces.

Last month, five people died when a TTP suicide squad stormed a police compound in the port city of Karachi.

Weeks earlier, a bomb blast claimed by a group sometimes affiliated with the TTP, killed more than 80 officers and injured over 100 at a police mosque in Peshawar.

January was one of the deadliest months since July 2018: 134 people were killed and 254 were injured in at least 44 militant attacks across the country, according to the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

Militant groups "are all franchises bound by one objective: to hit the security forces and instill a sense of fear and uncertainty in Pakistan", said Imtiaz Gul, an analyst with Islamabad's Centre for Research and Security Studies.

Balochistan, which borders both Afghanistan and Iran, is the largest, least populous and poorest province in Pakistan.

It has abundant natural resources, but local residents have long harboured resentment, claiming they do not receive a fair share of its riches.

Tensions have been stoked further by a flood of Chinese investment under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also called One Belt One Road (OBOR), which residents of the province say has not reached them.

China is investing in the area under a $54 billion project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), upgrading infrastructure, power and transport links between its western Xinjiang region and Pakistan's Gwadar port.