Remote-controlled: Bomb targeting police kills three in Quetta

SP Saryab Road says remote controlled bomb had target police personnel, SHO among those injured.

QUETTA: At least three people were killed and nine others, including a policeman, wounded when a police vehicle was attacked with a remote-controlled bomb on Saryab Road in Quetta on Sunday.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Saryab Sikandar Tareen said the remote control device targeting the police patrol, was planted on a donkey cart.

“Unidentified persons detonated the device by remote control when the patrol vehicle of the New Saryab police station passed by,” he told reporters.

Three people were killed in the explosion – two on board the cart and a rickshaw driver. Nine others, including a policeman, sustained injuries.

A heavy Frontier Corps (FC) and police contingent rushed to the site soon after the attack and cordoned off the area. The injured and deceased were shifted to the Sandeman Hospital where emergency had already been declared. The police vehicle, two rickshaws and two donkey carts were damaged in the blast which also left windowpanes of several shops smashed.

“Three dead bodies and nine injured were brought for treatment,” doctors at Sandeman Hospital confirmed.

Two of the deceased have been identified as Mohammad Younus and Mohammad Arif. The identity of the third, the rickshaw driver, is yet to be ascertained.

The injured were identified as policeman Nazer Mohammad, Abdul Samad, Rafiullah, Rashid, Jan Mohammad, Babar, Allah Baksh, Waqar, Muzamil Bahadur.

According to the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), around 15 to 10 kg of explosive material was used in the device.

Police personnel have been frequently targeted in Quetta over the past month. Seven policemen have so far lost their lives in targeted killings and bomb attacks.

“Police are receiving threats by an armed group that is involved in the targeted killings in Quetta,” a senior official said, adding that efforts are under way to maintain law and order.

No group had claimed responsibility for the latest incident till the filing of this report.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2012.