Pakistani officials say one police officer has been killed and at least 17 other people wounded in an explosion in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the October 18 blast in the provincial capital, Quetta, near a sit-in protest camp of the Baloch Student Organization (BSO).
Police spokesman Shahzada Farhat told RFE/RL that the bomb was planted on a motorbike that was parked near a police van.
Those wounded included 13 police officers and four bystanders.
The BSO has been demonstrating in front of the Balochistan University in support of another group of protesters who have been holding a sit-in protest for days in front of the Chief Minister House in Quetta calling for an investigation into the killing of two children earlier this month.
The two minors were killed in a blast inside their house in the remote Kech district on October 10.
Their parents and local residents say it was caused by a mortar shell fired by Frontier Corps personnel, but the paramilitary force and local officials claim a hand-grenade was to blame.
Balochistan has been the scene of frequent attacks by Islamist militants and a long-running insurgency by groups seeking independence for the mineral- and gas-rich province bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
