Explosion rocks football ground during match in Pakistan; 12 injured

At least 12 people were injured on Tuesday when a powerful explosion took place at a football ground during a match in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, according to the police.

A football match was underway in Allahabad Town in Hub, the industrial centre of the province, to pay tributes to policemen killed in the line of duty when a locally-manufactured improvised explosive device detonated, causing a loud explosion, senior police officer Mohammad Ahmed Zaheer said.

He said 12 people injured in the explosion were rushed to Karachi for treatment.

“Two of the injured are in a critical condition,” he said.

A senior police official said that the explosion took place at the final match of the tournament.

The police were investigating the nature of the blast and a possible motive.

Hub town connects Karachi to Balochistan.

Separatists and militants have been carrying out a number of terror attacks in Balochistan and usually attack security forces, including police, workers and labourers from outside the province who work on the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in different parts of the province.

Last year, seven soldiers of the Frontier Corps (FC) and seven security guards were killed when terrorists attacked a convoy escorting workers of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited on the Makran Coastal Highway in Ormara.

In another attack last year, at least eight people, including police and FC personnel, were injured in a blast in Hub.