Targeted: 1 killed, 17 injured in bomb attack on police

Three cars, three auto rickshaws damaged along with a good number of civilians: Police officials.

PESHAWAR: One policeman was killed while 17 others, including six policemen and one woman were injured in a road side bomb explosion that was targeting three police vehicles, whereas a number of vehicles, including the police van carrying three prisoners, were severely damaged on GT Road near Gulbahar police station on Saturday.

The deceased policeman, Shah Hussain succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Police said that the three police vehicles that were going to Mardan to shift three prisoners were the target but since it was rush hour and the GT Road was crowded with traffic, the damage was widespread.

An official of the Gulbahar police station told The Express Tribune that around 9 o’clock, three police mobiles came under a bomb attack near their police station on main GT Road in which six police men had been injured and one of them was serious who was initially considered dead because he was unconscious.

He said that the explosion took place in the middle of the road as the bomb had been planted there and no one suspected any foul play because of the under construction flyover.

“Three cars and at least three auto rickshaws have been damaged along with a good number of civilians,” he added, saying that all the three prisoners had escaped unhurt in the attack and they had been shifted to the nearby police station.

“All other injured are stable at the time being and are being treated in various wards,” a spokesman of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) told The Express Tribune.

Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) inspected the site but said that they were unclear as to what type and of what intensity the bomb used in the attack had been as there was no crater on the ground which was highly unusual.

“It is highly unusual that the explosion while caused considerable damage to men and material created no crater,” said a BDS official on the condition of anonymity, adding that they were still investigating the matter.