Quetta violence: Back-to-back blasts kill two, injure nine

Locals help avert a major blast in Dera Murad Jamali.

QUETTA:

A series of three back-to-back explosions within a space of a few minutes in Quetta killed two people and injured nine others.

The first blast took place in the industrial area, half a kilometre away from the area police station. A rickshaw driver was killed in the blast, while four others, including a woman and two children, were injured. The injured were rushed to the Provincial Sandeman Hospital Quetta for treatement. “The rickshaw driver received multiple splinter wounds and died on the spot,” the medico-legal officer (MLO) told The Express Tribune.

In a second blast an improvised explosive device was planted in front of the main gate of the industrial police station which went off with huge explosion injuring a police constable. A police mobile parked nearby was also damaged in the attack.

A third blast occurred in downtown Quetta- at the intersection of the Muti Ram Road and Patel Road- injuring four people, including a child. Rescue workers and a heavy contingent of police reached on the spot and shifted the injured to Sandeman Hospital. One of the injured succumbed to his wounds at the hospital, taking the total toll to two.

Police said explosive materials were planted along with roadside and passers-by got injured. Following the blasts, the area was plunged into darkness as an electricity pylon was also damaged in the blast.

No group has claimed the responsibility for the attacks until the filing of this report.

School attacked

A private high school was attacked with a hand grenade in Khuzdar, about 300 kilometres from Quetta, on Wednesday night. The assailants fled the scene after hurling the grenade. “The school was receiving threats from a group,” local people said, adding that school had remained closed for the past few days.

Explosives recovered

Police have recovered 30 kilogrammes explosive materials fitted to a car parked besides the National Highway near Main Bazar in Dera Murad Jamali.

The locals had informed the police about the car, suspected of being laden with explosives. The police and bomb disposal squad rushed to the spot in time and recovered the explosive materials.

“The target seems to be a local bazaar,” a local police official told The Express Tribune adding, “The blast could have caused many casualties but the police foiled the attempt with the help of local people.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2013.