Quetta blast- four people killed and nearly dozen injured

 Powerful bomb exploded in four star Serena Hotel in Baluchistan's provincial capital Quetta

A powerful bomb explosion killed four people and nearly dozen injured in Quetta. The four star hotel Serena was targeted in this attack.  According to police, the blast took place in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel at Zarghoon road. The bomb was planted in a car parked in the hotel.

Serena Hotel is the only four star hotel in the city. Several vehicles parked in the parking lot caught fire after the explosion and many vehicles were damaged due to the intensity of the blast. The wounded have been shifted to Quetta's Civil Hospital.

The fire brigade arrived at the parking area to put out the fire that some cars had caught. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire and a cooling process is currently underway.  Police said it is trying to figure out the intensity of the blast. The area has been cordoned off and an investigation is underway.

Security, fire and rescue officials were rushing to the hotel and no one was being allowed to go near the site of the blast, which took place at 10:30pm. Quetta Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Arbab Kamran Kasi earlier confirmed the casualties, saying two people were in critical condition.

Footage shared from the scene showed burning cars, with huge flames and plumes of smoke rising into the sky.

The incident comes a week after 12 people were injured in an explosion during a football tournament being held at a ground in Allahabad Town located in Balochistan's industrial town of Hub near Karachi.

There have been deadly explosions and attacks at other luxury hotels in the country in the past as well.

In May 2019, at least five people were killed and several injured in a gun-and-bomb attack targeting the five-star Pearl Continental hotel in Gwadar. It was claimed by the banned Balochistan Liberation Army.

In 2008, 60 people were killed when a suicide bomber rammed truck packed with 600 kilograms of high explosives into the outer gates of the five-star Marriott hotel in Islamabad. The attack destroyed part of the hotel which was then shut down and opened a few months later surrounded by a massive, bomb-proof wall.

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