Four Pakistani police officers killed in bomb attack

May 13 (UPI) -- A bomb went off in a marketplace in southwest Pakistan, killing at least four police officers and injuring around 10 others, including civilians, Monday night.

The blast in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, was the second in the province in two days. Baluchistan is where China is investing in infrastructure projects for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor that links southwestern China to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.

An improvised explosive device was planted in a motorcycle parked on the roadside in Satellite Town, Quetta Deputy Inspector General Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema told Dawn.

A spokesman for the outlawed Pakistani Taliban militant group claimed responsibility for the bomb blast, Voice of America reported.

A separatist group, known as the Baluchistan Liberation Army, took responsibility for the attack on Gwadar's only five-star hotel, the Zaver Pearl Continental, killing five people Saturday, including four hotel employees and one navy commando. Pakistani security forces killed three people who were described as "terrorists" in security force uniforms in a siege that lasted several hours.

On Thursday, BLA gunmen killed five people at a coal mine in Harnai district of Balochistan.

"The entire nation stands determined until the eradication of terrorism," Shahbaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz opposition party said after the attack in Quetta. "By targeting Balochistan multiple times, the enemy has made its intentions clear."

Sharif paid tribute to security officials and police officers for "risking their lives in defense of the country and its people." He also urged security organizations to "stay alert as terrorism is rearing its head again."