Calculated attack?: Blast followed by attack on police mobile

Police said the mobile had been sent to the area to check the site of Zakhel blast, and was ambushed by militants.

PESHAWAR:

Violence erupted in the city in two separate, possibly linked incidents in the city on Saturday, with an explosion in Zakhel and an attack on a police mobile.

A bridge over a seasonal nullah was slightly damaged in a medium intensity blast in Zakhel area, in the jurisdiction of Mattani police station.

Police said the explosion was heard miles away, creating fear and panic among the local people, but only resulted in damage to the bridge. Police speculated on the probability of security forces’ vehicles in the area being the target of the blast. “We reached the spot and there were no casualties in the explosion,” said an official of the local police station.



Later, a sub inspector of the Mattani police was wounded when militants attacked a police mobile in Pasani village on the outskirts of the city.

Police said the mobile had been sent to the area to check the site of the Zakhel blast, adding it was ambushed by militants on its way back. “Our sub-inspector, Khanumullah, was injured in the attack and he has been shifted to a hospital,” said a police official, adding a large number of police officers had been sent to the area to conduct a search operation in response to reports that stated the militants were still in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2013.