Roadside blast: Bomb targeting police kills one in Quetta

Four security personnel among eight injured in attack

QUETTA: A remote-controlled explosion targeting a police patrol left one policeman dead and four more injured in Quetta. Four passersby were also wounded in the roadside blast, police said.

An improvised explosive device weighing up to 3kg concealed inside a container was planted on Spini Road and was detonated as a police van was passing by, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti told the media at the blast site. The blast killed one of the policemen and injured eight more people, including four police personnel.

The deceased was identified as Abdullah.

Quetta Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Abdul Rehman said two more victims were in a critical condition. The victims were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital later owing to security threats.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. “The offence against militant groups will continue until we kill the last terrorist in Balochistan,” Bugti vowed.

Condemning the blast, Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri directed the authorities to speed up action against terrorists disturbing peace in the provincial capital.

This was the third blast in May targeting the police force.

On May 10, a police check-post was blown up near the Balochistan University, killing two policemen. On May 19, a van of the Balochistan Constabulary was hit by an improvised explosive device at Bhosa Mandi, leaving a soldier dead.

Three killed in Harnai

Three men were killed while three more people, including two women, were injured in Harnai when unidentified armed men attacked a house in the Shahrag area, Levies officials said.

The deceased were shifted to the Rural Health Centre in Shahrag while the injured were taken to Quetta for treatment.

A search operation was started to arrest the attackers, who also kidnapped two more people from the house, sources said. They added the attack stemmed from an old enmity.

The deceased were identified as Shamsullah, Zain and Noor Khan while the injured were named Bakht Bibi, Khan Bibi and Hameedullah.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2016.