Targeted attack: Bicycle bomb kills 3 FC soldiers in Quetta

Remote-controlled device injures 10 people, including 5 security officials and a woman.

QUETTA: At least three paramilitary soldiers were killed and 10 other people injured on Friday when a booby-trapped bicycle exploded in the provincial capital of Balochistan. 

Five security officials and a woman were among those injured.

Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman Murtaza Baig told The Express Tribune that an FC convoy was patrolling the Badini intersection on Saryab Road when the bomb was detonated by remote control.

“The bomb was planted on a bicycle and it was a remote-control device,” Baig said, adding that at least three security officials were killed and 10 others, including a female passerby and five paramilitary troops, sustained injuries.

A large contingent of police and FC personnel immediately rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area. The deceased and injured were shifted to the Civil Hospital. The deceased were identified as Nawab Khan, Sarmad and Wajid Khan, while two of the five injured security officials were identified as Sajjad Ahmed and Feroz Ahmed. The other three and the woman remained unidentified till the filing of this report.

Speaking to the media at the crime scene, DIG Investigation Hamid Shakeel said the FC convoy was the target of the bomb blast. An official of the Bomb Disposal Squad said, “Around 8 to 10 kg of explosives material was used in the blast.”

The police have registered a case against the culprits and have launched an investigation.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2012.

tter-spacing:-.15pt'>Security forces were checking vehicles at the check post when suspected militants riding motorcycles opened fire on them. As a result, one of the security personnel was fatally wounded.

 

In a quick retaliatory action from troops manning the check post, two of the fleeing militants were also killed. Two passersby – Sadam Khan and Said Wali – were also caught up in the cross-fire and were wounded. They were shifted to the agency headquarters hospital for treatment.

Soon after the firefight, the political administration of Miramshah imposed a curfew around 3pm and security forces mounted a manhunt for the attackers in Machis Camp area, around one kilometre east of Miramshah.

Security forces used helicopter gunships and artillery to target suspected hideouts of militants in the mountainous region. Several families fled the fighting to safer locations.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2012.