Islamabad, August 8: At least two policemen were killed and eight others injured on Sunday when a powerful blast targeted their vehicle near a luxury hotel in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's troubled southwestern Balochistan province, officials said. "The initial probe showed that the bomb was fitted with a motorbike," Balochistan government spokesman Liaquat Shahwani said.

He said that two policemen were killed and eight others injured in the blast that targeted the police mobile van at Tanzeem Square near Serena Hotel in Quetta. The security agencies have surrounded the area and launched a manhunt to arrest the culprits, he added.

The injured have been shifted to the city's Civil Hospital, a senior police official said, adding that the windows of nearby buildings were shattered due to the explosion. Also Read | Taliban Executes Young Woman for Wearing Tight Clothes and Not Being Accompanied by Male Relative in Samar Qandian.

No group took the responsibility for the blast but the Baloch nationalists are active in the province and often target the security forces. They accuse the federal government of exploiting the natural resources of the province.

Chief Minister of Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan has condemned the incident.

"Terrorist elements want to ruin the province's peace. [We] will never allow terrorists to succeed in their nefarious plans," he was quoted as saying in a statement. Taliban Kidnap, Forcibly Marry Teenage Girls and Young Women to Its Fighters in Afghanistan.

The attack comes more than three months after a powerful bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel, killing five people and wounding a dozen others. The Chinese ambassador was staying in the hotel but was out at the time of the attack.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)