A man carries a boy as he shouts for an ambulance after gunmen attacked the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, Pakistan, December 17, 2017. REUTERS/Naseer Ahmed/Files

 

QUETTA: An explosion in southwest Pakistan left at least one person dead and seven others wounded on Monday, officials said.

A remote control bomb, targeting civilians, was planted in a motorcycle that went off in Panjgur city of the restive Baluchistan province, according to authorities.

"It was an improvised explosive device [IED] planted in the motorcycle parked in a busy area of the Panjgur city and was detonated through a remote control," Ghulam Ali ? the provincial home secretary ? told AFP.

Bashir Bangulzai ? the commissioner of Makran region, of which Panjgur is a part ? confirmed the details and said two of those wounded were in critical condition.

On Sunday, a six-year-old girl and her mother were also killed in the outskirts of Panjgur when the child was playing with a hand grenade found near her house.

China is investing in the area under a $54-billion project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), upgrading infrastructure, power, and transport links between its far-western Xinjiang region and Pakistan?s Gwadar port.

Pakistan accuses arch-rival India for the unrest in the province in order to hurt the CPEC and destabilise the country.