Policeman martyred in Mardan IED attack

Home-made device was planted under a bridge

MARDAN:

The law and order situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has been deteriorating fast as a policeman was killed and five others, including three fellow cops, were injured in an IED blast outside a police post in Mardan district on Thursday.

Police said that miscreants had planted a home-made IED device just outside the Chamtar police post which had been connected with a remote control. When a police mobile van entered the post, it was detonated.

“The device had been planted under a bridge of Chamtar police post on Ring Road. The attack happened around 10 am in the morning,” said a police official, adding that Head Constable Maqsood was killed on the spot while ASI Sohail, Constable Karim and Constable Fayyaz were left injured. Two civilian passers-by also suffered wounds, he said.

SP Operation Mumtaz Khan told The Express Tribune that police mobile was the target of the remote-controlled IED attack.

“Police mobile was coming back from a routine patrol and when the gate of the post was opened and the vehicle entered the building, the explosion took place, hitting the vehicle from behind,” he said, adding that a head constable died on the spot.

The injured have been rushed to the nearby Mardan Medical Complex (MMC).

SP said that around eight to 10 kilos of high explosive had been used in the attack. The blast left the main gate of the building completely destroyed.

The windowpanes were smashed and vehicles parked inside were also damaged as a result of the explosion.

The blast caused widespread panic across the city and was heard miles away.

Security has been beefed up across the district after the assault and police formed a team to investigate the case.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has condemned the attack in Mardan and said that the case will be investigated and those responsible will be brought to justice.

The last rites of the slain head constable were offered at Mardan police lines with full guard of honour and attended by police high-ups and officials of the district administration.

Later the coffin was sent to the slain cop’s ancestral village Ghari Kapora for burial.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2022.