The blast ripped through the residence of Shafeeq Mengal, the son of former Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal.
Ten people were killed and about 30 others injured when a powerful car bomb went off outside the home of the son of a prominent politician in Quetta city of southwest Pakistan today, police officials said.
The blast ripped through the residence of Shafeeq Mengal, son of former Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal.
The explosion in a residential area near Arbab Karam Khan Road was heard from several kilometres away.
Ten people were killed and about 30 others, including two children, were injured.
The wounded were taken to several nearby hospitals.
Officials described the condition of six of the injured as very critical.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Shafeeq Mengal, his father and his family escaped unhurt though some of his bodyguards were injured, Deputy Inspector General of Police (operations) Nazir Kurd told reporters.
Shafeeq was the target of the attack and preliminary investigations showed a bomb with over 40 kg of explosives was planted in the car, Kurd said.
The car bomb was detonated an hour after Shafeeq returned home from Khuzdar district, Kurd said.
Police officials said another bomb was planted in a vehicle parked in the same area but it did not explode.
The bomb disposal squad later defused it.
The blast caused severe damage to about a dozen cars, buildings and shops and blew out the windows of nearby structures.
It also triggered a blaze that was later extinguished by fire fighters.
Footage on television showed ambulances taking the injured, their clothes spattered with blood, to hospital.
Security forces cordoned off the area as thick black smoke was seen rising from a building.
Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal had also served as a federal minister and was a member of the Senate or upper house of parliament during 2003-09.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the attack.
In a message, Gilani said such cowardly acts of terrorism would not weaken the resolve of the nation to defeat terrorism and extremism.
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