QUETTA: Five Pakistan Army personnel were martyred and over a dozen civilians were injured in multiple explosions in Balochistan.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that five soldiers including a captain were martyred and six others injured after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded during an intelligence-based clearance operation in Balochistan’s Kahan area on Sunday.

“Captain Fahad along with four other brave sons of soil Lance Naik Imtiaz, Sepoy Asghar, Sepoy Mehran, and Sepoy Shamoon have embraced Shahadat, laying their lives in defence of the motherland against an externally perpetrated threat of terrorism,” military’s media wing said.

The ISPR said that such cowardly acts could not sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan.

“The sanitization operation continues in the area to apprehend perpetrators,” it added.

In a separate incident, unidentified men threw a grenade at a police checkpoint in Quetta’s Satellite Town, injuring five people, including three police officers.

Another grenade blast took place within the premises of Hub’s Sadar Police Station, injuring three people, police said. The rescue sources said the injured people were shifted to the hospital.

Earlier in the day, a bomb in front of Shaheed Ameer Dasti police station on Sabzal Road injured at least four people including a woman and a child. The authorities said that a hand grenade was used in the explosion. The injured were shifted to BMC Hospital.

FC arrived and sealed the area, after it was reported that there was another bomb in the area. The bomb was later diffused.

SSP Operations Quetta Abdul Haq Imrani said that unidentified terrorists dropped two hand grenades infront of the police station and fled. However, only one of the two bombs actually exploded.

Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo condemned the attack and ordered that security arrangements be beefed up in the province.

The attack comes amid growing terror attacks in the country.

On Sunday the military announced that it had thwarted militants attempt to force their way into Pakistan from Afghanistan.

New wave of terrorism

One policeman was martyred when a a suicide bomber blew up a car in Islamabad’s sector I-10/4 on Friday. The bomber came in a taxi and was asked to stop for a search when he blew himself up. Multiple policemen were injured.

A JIT has been constituted to investigate the bombing. Sources say that the son of the car’s owner has been tracked down and that the target was a government building.