Terror strike: Six soldiers injured in Zhob suicide attack

Security personnel stop attacker from entering cantonment area

QUETTA: At least seven people, including six soldiers and a child, were injured on Friday in a suicide attack outside a cantonment area in restive Balochistan’s western Zhob district.

The suicide bomber, driving a double-cabin vehicle, was stopped at a security forces’ check post at the entrance of the Zhob Cantonment when the blast occurred. “Six soldiers and a child were injured in the blast,” said a security official.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Balochistan Home Secretary Akber Hussain Durrani confirmed that it was a suicide attack.

“The attacker was trying to enter the Zhob Cantt area during Friday prayers and he triggered the blast when his vehicle was stopped by the security personnel at the entrance point,” he said.

However, investigations into the incident were underway to determine whether the bomber was wearing a suicide vest or the explosives were mounted on the vehicle, said another official.

A large number of security personnel rushed to the spot after the blast and threw a cordon round the area. The injured were later shifted to Zhob’s Civil Hospital for treatment.

The injured were identified as Hawaldar Sajad, Hawaldar Wahid Baksh, Imam Baksh, Sepoy Kamran, Sepoy Ali Ahmed, Sepoy Nabi Baksh and an eight-year-old boy, Fida Hussain.

“One of the soldiers is in critical condition,” said a source in the hospital.

Later, Azam Mehsud, spokesman for a splinter group of outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, called the Radio Free Europe correspondent in Dera Ismail Khan and claimed responsibility for the attack.

Raids in different areas

Meanwhile, a militant was killed and three others were rounded up in three separate search operations in Quetta, Dera Bugti and Sibi areas of Balochistan.

The Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman said the paramilitary force along with an intelligence agency launched a search operation in Uch area of Dera Bugti. “During the operation, an exchange of firing took place in which one militant was killed while another was arrested,” he said.

A huge cache of arms and ammunition – including hand grenade, two SMGs and other arms – was also recovered from the militants’ possession.

Two suspects were also nabbed during separate raids in Sibi and Margat area of Quetta

“The arrested persons were involved in attacking security forces and blowing up gas pipelines,” the spokesperson said, adding that they had been shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th,  2016.