QUETTA: Suspected separatists hurled a hand grenade at a store selling national flags in Balochistan, killing one man and wounding four people, officials said Tuesday.
No one has claimed responsibility for the late Monday night attack in Quetta, according to Wasim Baig, a spokesman for the provincial health department.
The proscribed Baloch Liberation Army has claimed such attacks in the past. This year, it warned people not to celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day on August 14.
Earlier this week, the same militant group claimed responsibility for the killing of two policemen in a roadside bombing in Quetta, indicating an uptick in violence ahead of the holiday.
On Tuesday in Quetta, security forces shot and killed five suspected separatists in an operation on the city’s outskirts, the provincial counter-terrorism department said. It provided no further details.
Small militant groups have been carrying out a long-running insurgency in the province.
The province also shares a long border with Iran and Afghanistan, and the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and the so-called Islamic State group have also maintained a presence in Balochistan.
