Three consecutive explosions claimed by a little-known separatist group killed four people, including two soldiers, in Sindh yesterday, officials said.
At least a dozen people were also injured.
Shadowy secessionist organisation the Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army, which wants the province to break from the Pakistani federation, said it carried out the attacks.
One of the blasts was in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and the capital of Sindh, where a civilian died and eight others including a paramilitary soldier were injured.
Police believe the target was a vehicle of the Sindh Rangers paramilitary force parked outside.
According to the Superintendent of Police Central Aslam Rao, the incident occurred at a college in Liaquatabad No 10, where cash under the Ehsaas programme was being distributed among the needy.
According to Rao, in the hand grenade attack, a Rangers officer was also wounded.
The attack caused damage to a Rangers’ vehicle parked nearby, said the officer, who added that those injured include people who had gathered to withdraw cash under the programme.
Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said that those who attacked the cash programme centre “will not be forgiven”.
The second blast was reported in Ghotki district, 500km north of Karachi, where two Rangers soldiers died along with a passerby, local police chief Furrukh Ali told Reuters.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Hafiz Qadir said that Rangers personnel were buying meat at the market where the attack took place.
He said that the bodies and wounded have been moved to District Hospital Ghotki.
The third blast took place in Sindh’s Larkana district, where no casualties were reported.
The Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army has carried out low-intensity attacks in the past, including blowing up train tracks, but its separatist fight has been less violent than that of neighbouring Baluchistan province.
“Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army claims the responsibility of Karachi, Ghotki and Larkana attacks,” it tweeted, without giving more details.
The Rangers, a wing of the Pakistan Army, have been deployed around Pakistan and played a prominent role in crackdowns on militant and criminals in Karachi.
Sindh’s Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah ordered an inquiry into yesterday’s violence.
Police officers and paramilitary soldiers are seen near the cordoned off area in Karachi, after a grenade blast outside a college, where people were gathered to receive money from the government cash handout programme.
