Booby trap?: Two FC soldiers killed in Zhob explosion

The fatalities took place when one of the two SUVs seized by FC near Pak-Afghan border went off.

QUETTA:

Two paramilitary soldiers were killed on Friday when a car rigged with explosives went off near the Frontier Corps (FC) headquarters in Zhob, some 340 kilometres away from the provincial capital.

“FC troops seized two explosive-laden SUVs near the Pak–Afghan border and were driving them to their headquarters when one of them exploded,” police official Sajjad Ahmed told The Express Tribune. “The SUV was rigged with explosives,” he added.

Two FC troops – identified as Sepoy Abdul Azizi and Speoy Muhammad Wakil – were killed on the spot. Their bodies were shifted to a hospital for autopsy.

Local police registered a case against the suspects who were taken into custody along with the SUVs.

Maj-Gen Ubaidullah Khan, the inspector-general of FC Balochistan, praised his troops for carrying out a successful operation and recovering the explosives. He paid rich tribute to the fallen soldiers “who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty”.

A spokesperson for the Frontier Corps said in a statement that the paramilitary troops recovered a huge quantity of explosives from the second SUV which included 50 IEDs, 4,000 connectors, two detonators and 50 kilograms of explosives.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2012.