Separate violent acts claim 12 lives

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QUETTA, Pakistan, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- At least 12 people died and nine more were injured in various acts of violence in Pakistani cities in the past two days, authorities said.

On Thursday, an explosion targeting a police van in Peshawar in the restive northwest region injured nine people, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

The incident occurred in the city's Jinnah Park, the report said. The injured were taken to a hospital but a report on their condition was not available.

Police, however, were quoted as saying no policeman was among those injured. The explosion damaged several vehicles, police said.

On Wednesday, seven people died in two incidents in Balochistan province after being shot by gunmen, CNN reported.

In the first incident in Loop Sharani, four people died when the gunmen fired indiscriminately in what appeared to be targeted killing in the province, which has a large population of minority Shiite Muslims. Pakistan is a Sunni Majority nation.

The other shootings occurred in the provincial capital of Quetta, where three people, earlier kidnapped by gunmen, died after being shot in their heads from close range, CNN reported, quoting local police.

The report said at least 97 people have died so far this year in Balochistan, blamed on sectarian and separatist violence.

Also on Wednesday, five people were reported killed in separate shootings in the port city of Karachi, another region wracked by sectarian and political violence.

Dawn reported the bodies of three of the victims were found wrapped in bags in the city's Baldia area. The report said the victims had been abducted the previous day.

The other two victims were killed in other parts of the city, the reported said.