Quetta, Jan 17 (IANS): At least nine people, including a policeman, were injured on Wednesday in a bomb blast in Pakistan's Quetta city, police and health officials said.

Local police told the media that the blast took place near a garbage heap beside the Zarghoon Road in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, reports Xinhua news agency.

Police and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the injured to the Trauma Center & Emergency Department of Quetta.

Arbab Kamran, managing director of the centre, told Xinhua that two of the injured are in critical condition and are being treated at the intensive care unit.

Police cordoned off the area and launched an investigation.

Preliminary findings suggest that the bomb was planted near the trash and detonated when three children were rummaging through it.

This is the third attack in Balochistan in a span of three days.

On Monday, unidentified assailants targeted premises of Government Model High School in Kharan town during a training session for polling staff.

The next day, Pakistan People's Party candidate Mir Asghar Rind survived a grenade attack in Turbat -- the second-largest city in Balochistan.