Car bomb in Balochistan kills four, injures 20; BLA under suspicion

Four people died and 20 were injured in a car bomb explosion on Sunday night, in Qillah Abdullah, a city in Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan. Several shops and the outer wall of a nearby building housing paramilitary forces were damaged. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, according to deputy commissioner Abdullah Riaz, news agency AP reported.The ethnic Baloch separatists remain under suspicion as they frequently target security forces and civilians in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan. Shahid Rind, a spokesperson for the Balochistan government, condemned the bombing and said an investigation is underway.Balochistan has been a focal point of a prolonged insurgency in Pakistan, with various separatist groups carrying out attacks, including the banned Balochistan Liberation Army, which was labeled a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019.Pakistan frequently accuses its rival India of backing the BLA and the Pakistani Taliban, both of which have escalated their attacks in Pakistan in recent months. One of the deadliest of these assaults occurred in March, when BLA insurgents killed 33 people, mostly soldiers, in an attack on a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Balochistan.On May 11, the BLA called for Indian support against Pakistan, making the appeal amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

India has not yet responded to the BLA’s overture.The BLA further denied claims that it operated as an Indian proxy and said, “If we receive political, diplomatic and defense support from the world, especially from India, the Baloch nation can eliminate this terrorist state and lay the foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and independent Balochistan.”The group assured the Indian government that, if provided support, its fighters would open an additional front against Pakistan's military near the Afghan border, an area where the Pakistani Taliban maintains strongholds.