Policemen among four martyred in Quetta blasts

Two separate explosions rock provincial capital, with police being primary target

QUETTA:

Two blasts rocked Quetta on Monday evening, killing at least four people, including two policemen, and leaving scores injured.

The first blast occurred in the city's Kandahari Bazar area, where terrorists had planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in a motorcycle parked near a police vehicle. The target of the blast was the police vehicle, according to Zohaib Mohsin, a senior police officer in Quetta.

Those injured in the explosion were rushed to the nearby trauma centre in Civil Hospital Quetta for medical treatment. The doctors described the condition of the two injured as serious.

"We received four dead bodies from the site of the blast,” said Waseem Baig, the Civil Hospital spokesman. He added that an emergency was imposed to provide medical treatment to the injured.

The explosion shattered windowpanes of nearby shops and markets in the area, causing the shopkeepers to quickly pull down shutters.

Police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel reached the crime scene and cordoned off the area to investigate the incident. "High explosive materials were used in the attack," said Rafo Jan Mandokhail, an official of the Civil Defence. He said that the IED was planted in the motorcycle parked near the police vehicle.

Read Founder of banned BNA arrested in 'innovatively conceived' operation, says ISPR

Another blast targeted a police vehicle in the Sariab Road area of Quetta. Police sources said that four policemen were injured in the assault. They said that unidentified persons lobbed a hand grenade at the vehicle of Sariab SHO, which left four personnel injured. However, the SHO was unharmed in the attack.

The injured policemen were rushed to the Civil Hospital Quetta for treatment. A police contingent reached the spot as an investigation into the incident got underway.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo condemned the attack and directed the police to arrest the culprits behind it. In a statement, the CM said that the terrorists involved in the attack would be brought to justice.

Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove also condemned the blast and directed the administration to apprehend the culprits behind it.

Levies personnel dead

In another tragic incident on Monday in Balochistan's Surab district, a squad of Kalat Commissioner Dawood Khilji met with an accident resulting in the death of at least four Levies personnel, according to police officials.

The accident occurred when their vehicle collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction while the commissioner and his squad were en route to Khuzdar.

Although Commissioner Khilji remained unharmed, two personnel sustained injuries and were rushed to the Civil Hospital in Surab for treatment.

The driver of the truck has been arrested, as confirmed by Surab Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Allah Bakhsh Baloch.