1 police officer killed and 6 others wounded in grenade attack at a mosque in southwestern Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A police officer died and six other officers were wounded in a grenade attack Monday at a mosque in southwestern Pakistan, authorities said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. Local police chief Nasir Shah said officers were still investigating.

In a statement, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denounced the attack, which came a day after a motorcycle bomb killed two people and wounded five others in Khuzdar, a district the Baluchistan province that has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in recent weeks.

For years, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency group demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted.