19 killed in Pak blasts in Peshawar, Quetta

/Karachi, Mar 14: At least 19 people were killed on Friday and nearly 60 injured in two separate

that rocked Peshawar and

cities in

.

In the first blast in restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Peshawar city, nine people were killed and over 30 others injured. The victims included included women, children and policemen.

DSP (City) Banaras Khan said the blast appeared to have targeted a police mobile van and was carried out by a suicide bomber. The explosion took place in the Sarband area of the city near a petrol pump.

Peshawar lies next to Pakistan's tribal areas which are a haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the country. The city has seen frequent attacks by militants in recent years, with targets ranging from civilians to policemen and other law enforcement personnel.

In the second blast, at least 10 people were killed and around 30 injured when a patrol vehicle of the Frontier Corps was bombed in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan province.

Police said that explosives were installed on a motorcycle and detonated by remote when the FC vehicle passed close by on Prince road.

"The casualties have risen to 10 while around 30 injured people have been shifted to hospitals for treatment," city police chief Mir Zubair said.

He said the blast was so intense that glasses of nearby buildings and vehicles parked in the vicinity were also damaged.

The casualties and injured included women and children. Balochistan has also seen an upswing in violence in recent months and is wracked by a separatist insurgency, sectarian violence and Taliban militants.

PTI