Deadly bombing kills 3 security personnel in Pakistan, injures 18

A roadside bomb blast in Pakistan’s Balochistan province killed three security officers and injured 18 others on Tuesday (April 15), amid a resurgence of violence in the country’s volatile southwest. Hours later, two polio health workers were abducted by unidentified gunmen in the northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The bomb exploded near a vehicle transporting security forces in Mastung district, an area long plagued by separatist violence. Shahid Rind, a spokesperson for the Balochistan government, confirmed the casualties and said an investigation was underway.

No group has yet claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch insurgents who have waged a decades-long campaign against the Pakistani state.

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Among the most active of these groups is the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States in 2019. The BLA and other armed separatist factions demand independence for the mineral-rich province, accusing the central government of exploitation and neglect.

Although Islamabad insists it has suppressed the insurgency, Balochistan continues to witness regular attacks targeting both civilians and security forces. The province borders both Afghanistan and Iran and remains a geopolitical flashpoint in the region.

In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the bombing and pledged to carry on the “fight against terrorism” until it is fully eradicated.

In a separate incident in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, gunmen opened fire on a vehicle before abducting two polio workers. According to local police officer Zahid Khan, the workers were returning from a local health facility. The kidnapping comes just days before the start of a nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaign set to begin on April 21, targeting 45 million children.

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While no group has claimed responsibility, such attacks have previously been blamed on Islamist militants who propagate false claims that polio vaccination efforts are part of a Western plot to sterilise Muslim children. These conspiracies, coupled with targeted violence, have severely hampered Pakistan’s public health campaigns.

Pakistan has reported six new cases of polio since the beginning of 2025. Alongside neighbouring Afghanistan, it remains one of only two countries in the world where the virus— capable of causing permanent paralysis or death— continues to circulate, according to the World Health Organization.

The dual incidents have once again underscored the precarious security environment in Pakistan, where militant and insurgent violence regularly disrupts both civil life and essential health services.