Bomb Blast in Southern Pakistan Kills 1, Wounds 13

Police in Pakistan said Thursday that a bomb blast in the southern city of Karachi killed at least one person and wounded 13 others.

An improvised explosive device planted on a motorcycle went off just before midnight in the busy Saddar commercial area of the port city, said police and hospital officials. The victims were mostly passersby.

The bombing was apparently targeting a van carrying Pakistani maritime security forces. The blast damaged several vehicles, including the van, and two of the security personnel were injured.

Karachi Police Chief Ghulam Nabi Memon told local media an investigation into the attack was underway.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.

Last month, a female suicide bomber wearing a burqa blew herself up near a van carrying Chinese teachers in Karachi, the capital of the southern Sindh province. The ensuing blast killed three foreigners and their Pakistani driver.

An outlawed insurgent group known as the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility for the deadly bombing at the entrance to the Karachi university campus.

BLA militants have been waging insurgent attacks against Pakistani security forces in the southwestern Baluchistan province but lately have extended their violent activities to Karachi, the country’s commercial center.

Pakistan and the United States list the BLA as a terrorist organization.