FC defuses magnetic bomb attached to journalist's car in Khyber Agency

PESHAWAR: Hours after an Additional Inspector General (AIG) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) police became victim of a suicide attack, Frontier Corps (FC) bomb disposal unit neutralised a magnetic bomb underneath a vehicle carrying local journalists in Khyber Agency.



According to details, local media personnel were on their way to cover a vintage car rally when men following the car with four journalists inside, identified something underneath the vehicle.

Magnetic bomb recoveredPHOTO: EXPRESS

Officials informed that the Khasadar force stopped the car after identification, adding that after observing the car closely at Charwazgai check post of Tehsil Landikotal, a magnetic bomb was found.

“We informed our officers and the message was conveyed to the FC’s bomb disposal unit which neutralised the bomb weighing around 2 kilograms and was locally manufactured,” a security official informed.

The official stated that the car reached the checkpost ahead of the rally, showing that if the bomb would not have been defused timely, it would have resulted in the loss of multiple lives including the journalists.



Car with four journalists being checkedPHOTO: EXPRESS

All four of them are under interrogation including one reporting for a foreign media house. Local media has been stopped from covering the rally. Once the rally reaches Torkham, it will return and move towards Karachi.



Earlier today, Additional Inspector General HQ Ashraf Noor was martyred in a suicide blast targeting his convoy in Peshawar’s Hayatabad area. According to rescue 1122, at least two people, including the AIG and his guard Habibullah, lost their lives while six other policemen sustained injuries in the explosion which occurred near Zarghooni Mosque.