Quetta, Mar 2 (AP) A bomb exploded near a police van in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing an officer and another person and wounding seven passers-by, police said.

The attack took place in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, on the Fatima Jinnah Road, according to Fida Hussain, a senior police officer. He identified the slain officer as Ajmal Sadozai.

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Hussain said the police van appears to have been the target of the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing but previous such attacks have been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban and various militant and insurgent groups.

Baluchistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency by Baluch secessionist groups that for decades have staged bombings and shooting attacks on civilians and security forces to press their demands for independence.

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The Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group also have a presence in Baluchistan. Islamabad insists that Pakistani forces have quelled the insurgency in Baluchistan but violence has continued there. (AP)

(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)