Quetta: A suicide car bomber targeted a senior police official on Thursday in a Pakistani region wracked by separatist violence, killing a guard and wounding eight people, police said.
The attacker first opened fire and then blew up his explosives-laden car outside the home of Deputy Inspector General of Police Wazir Khan Nasir in a high-security area of the southwest city of Quetta, said Daud Junejo, the city's police chief.
Nasir, his daughter and son were wounded but were said to be in stable condition at a hospital, Junejo said. The other victims included passers-by, and several houses also were damaged.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but Nasir has played a key role in arresting Islamist militants and ethnic-Baluch separatists.
Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province. Baluchistan has long been the site of a low-level insurgency by nationalists who say they want the province to receive a greater share of the profits from natural resources extracted there.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, April 07, 2011, 13:41