Pakistani journalist killed, 7 injured in Balochistan bomb blast

Karachi, May 3 (PTI) A senior journalist was killed and seven other people were injured in a bomb attack in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province on Friday, police said.

Muhammad Siddiq Mengal, a senior journalist and also the president of the Khuzdar Press Club, was killed when a remote-controlled bomb hit his vehicle on the Sultan Ibrahim highway on the outskirts of Khuzdar town," a police official said.

"Seven other people were also injured in the blast," he said.

Balochistan has been witnessing a series of terrorist activities for several years.

Most recently, on Thursday at least one died and 20 others were injured in twin landmine blasts that occurred near Thaikedar Naddi in the Duki district of Balochistan. The first explosion occurred when a truck hit a landmine, followed by a second blast as people gathered at the scene.

On Friday last, unknown assailants opened fire in the Kali Tarata area of Pishin district and injured two senior police officers, including a DSP and SHO. In a similar incident in the Tump area of the district, two labourers were killed by armed men.

In 2023, Pakistan ranked 150 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), a non-profit that defends and promotes freedom of information. According to a report by Freedom Network, an independent national media watchdog, at least 53 journalists were murdered in the country from 2012 to 2022. Only in two cases have convictions been obtained. PTI