FC convoy targeted: Two killed in Quetta explosion

Explosive device was planted under a car.

QUETTA:

A powerful car bomb killed two people and wounded 16 others, including five security men, on Saryab Road, which lies on the outskirts of Quetta.

Two passers-by, including a school student in his early teens, were killed, while five security personnel and a police constable were among the injured.

“A remote-controlled blast targeted a Frontier Corps (FC) convoy,” Capital City Police officer Ehsan Mehboob told The Express Tribune, while confirming the death toll. “The civilians suffered the casualties in the explosion while the vehicles of security forces were partially damaged,” Mehboob added.

Eyewitness accounts claimed that some FC personnel had also been killed in the explosion. However, the FC spokesperson did not confirm the casualties.

TTP’s Quetta branch spokesperson Sar Kalam Mujahid, while talking to The Express Tribune on phone, accepted responsibility for the attack, saying it was a revenge for the killings of the friends of the Taliban. He warned the people to stay away from government and military offices, adding that they were the prime targets of the militants.

The explosive device was planted under a white car and was detonated just as the FC convoy passed by. Two FC vehicles were partially damaged.

According to the Bomb Disposal Squad, 30 to 35 kilogrammes of explosive material was used in the bomb.

According to eyewitnesses, human flesh and limbs were found within a 500-metre radius of the attack scene.

A heavy contingent of security forces and police reached the spot and cordoned off the area, while firefighters were called in to extinguish the blaze that engulfed other vehicles.

“I was on my way to Spini Road from Saryab when I heard a loud siren and security forces shouting to clear the road for their convoy. A powerful explosion occurred as the FC convoy crossed my rickshaw,” Mohammad Khair, a rickshaw driver who was injured in the blast, told The Express Tribune.

“We received two bodies and 11 injured victims. Four of them are in critical condition,” Medico-Legal Officer Dr Safdar said. He added that the injured received multiple splinter wounds, while one was burnt.

The deceased and injured were shifted to the Sandeman Hospital, while the injured security personnel were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH).

The deceased were identified as 14-year-old Tanveer and Mohammad Khalid, a clerk at the University of Balochistan.

Those injured have been identified as Aminullah, Zar Wali, Mohammad Ali, Gul Mir, Mohmmad Rafay, Mohammad Kareem, police constable Mohammad Ikram, Mumtaz, Ibrar Hussain, Raza Mohammad and Mohammad Khair.

The five injured FC personnel were identified as Karam Elahi, Nor Mohammad, Anar Khan, Sher Bahar and Waheed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2012.