Rising violence: Spate of blasts rock Quetta, K-P

20 injured in four blasts in Balochistan’s capital, six bombs explode in K-P, killing one and wounding nine.

SWAT/ QUETTA/ PESHAWAR/ LOWER DIR/ DI KHAN:

Roughly 18 hours after a string of bomb blasts in Karachi and Quetta, more blasts rocked Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday, killing one and injuring at least 29 people.

The first blast occurred in Quetta’s Satellite town near a private hospital, wounding 16 people.

Police said the bomb was planted on a bicycle which was parked near the hospital.

Sher Mohammad, an eyewitness to the blast, said he saw someone park the cycle near his food stall just before the explosion.

“My child was also injured in the blast,” he said, adding that he did not see where the perpetrator escaped.

The Kechi Baig police station on Qambrani road was the target of the second blast, in which two constables were wounded and the force of the explosion destroyed a section of the boundary wall.

“A child parked the bicycle outside the police station and ran away, after which a person who was at a distance detonated the bomb with a remote,” police said.

In a third attack, at least two people were injured in a remote-controlled blast on New Jan Mohammad Road.

Grenade attack on house of JUI leader

Unknown persons hurled a hand grenade at the house of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Ideological’s provincial General Secretary Maulana Mehmood Shah in Kalat on Wednesday. He escaped unhurt.

The banned United Baloch Army has claimed responsibility for all four attacks, and its spokesman Mureed Baloch warned people to stay away from the elections.

Six blasts across K-P

In Peshawar, one bomb went off and one was defused by police. In the morning, a low-intensity bomb exploded in the Sarki area, injuring a woman and a boy.

Police said unidentified people threw a homemade explosive device inside a house belonging to Tariq, a contractor. The subsequent explosion damaged the house and injured a woman and a boy.

In a separate incident, police foiled a bombing attempt in Phase-1 Hayatabad by defusing a medium-intensity remote-controlled explosive device.

Unidentified people planted the explosive near the main gate of Intelligence Bureau officer Qazi Rasheed’s house. His housemates spotted the device and informed police. The bomb disposal squad was called in and they managed to defuse the bomb.

Blasts in D I Khan

Two roadside bombs detonated near the vehicle of former MPA and independent candidate from PK-67, Israrullah Gandapur on Wednesday morning.

Police said Gandapur was heading from Kulachi to Rohri to address a gathering and when his vehicle reached Gor Guldad at around 10am, two bombs exploded.

Gandapur was unhurt.

Six people injured in Swat

In Swat, six people were injured when a bomb disguised as a toy exploded inside a house in the Tangu Barai village.

According to police, a local took the device into his house and was cleaning it when it detonated. The explosion injured six people, including a seven-year-old child, three women and two men.

Three people were also wounded when one of them stepped on a landmine in Shena village of Samarbagh tehsil, Lower Dir.

A police official said the men were inspecting the house with the intention of buying it when one of them stepped on a landmine planted in the house, injuring the men.

Policeman killed in Mansehra

A police constable was killed while a passerby was seriously injured when a remote-controlled improvised explosive device detonated in the remote district of Torghar. However other police officials escaped unhurt and the explosion caused minor damaged to the police post.

The victims were rushed to Battagram Hospital where the constable, Sahib Khan, was pronounced dead.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2013.