Quetta: At least two people were injured following an explosion at a cracker shop at Quetta’s Moti Ram Road on Thursday, according to police.
Gawalmandi Station House Officer (SHO) Jawad Shaban told the initial explo-sion set off other crackers in the shop, resulting in a fire and leaving two peo-ple injured.
Fire brigade sent by the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation doused the blaze, he said, adding that the cracker shop where the explosion occurred was complete-ly destroyed while two others abutting it were partially damaged.
Television footage showed plumes of smoke following the incident and a crowd gathered at the site.
Meanwhile, a bomb disposal squad inspected the shop.
The SHO said it was collecting evidence to confirm the cause of the explosion.
Later, Quetta Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) retired Captain Zohaib Mohsin reached the site and told the media following the completion of the inspection by the bomb disposal squad that the explosion was caused by crackers setting off.
“The shop owner had ordered fireworks and crackers in large quantities keep-ing in view August 14 [celebrations], and they were kept at the rooftop. They exploded due to heat,” he said.
The official ruled out the involvement of any terror elements in the incident.
Earlier, when the cause of the explosion was not clear, Balochistan Chief Min-ister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo condemned the incident, terming it a “bomb blast”.
A statement issued by his office said he sought a report from the province’s ad-ditional chief secretary an d police chief on security measures taken in Balochi-stan. –Agencies
