A wrecked vehicle at the site of the bomb blast in Quetta’s crowded market area. PHOTO: REUTERS
On a day when Prime Minister Muhammed Nawaz Sharif toured terror-ravaged Peshawar to review the security situation there, bombs went off in all four provincial capitals of the country, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 70.
The most powerful and deadliest of these explosions took place in the restive Quetta city, where an improvised explosive device (IED) outside a police station killed at least eight people and injured 50 others.
The police station is located in the heart of the city at Liaquat Bazaar, the city’s commercial hub, which remains packed with shoppers, mostly women and children.
According to Commissioner Quetta Usman Gul, the terrorists had fitted a remote controlled IED to a bicycle and parked it near the main gate of city police station. “The bomb contained around five kilos of explosives,” he told reporters.
The blast was so powerful that it destroyed several vehicles, including a truck of Balochistan Constabulary, and shattered windowpanes of nearby buildings and shops.
“After the blast the whole area was covered in a thick black cloud,” Mohammed Akram, an eyewitness, told The Express Tribune.
A heavy contingent of police and security forces rushed to the spot soon after and threw a cordon around it. There was also a stampede soon after the explosion.
Edhi ambulances along with rescue workers rushed to the spot and shifted the dead and injured to Provincial Sandeman Hospital and Combined Military Hospital.
“Five bodies and 34 injured arrived at Sandeman Hospital, where an emergency was declared,” a hospital official said. Some of the injured were reported to be in serious condition.
“The target of the blast could be the police,” said a senior police officer Mohammed Jaffar. However no one had claimed responsibility for the blast till the filing of the report.
Blasts in Karachi
In Karachi three people, allegedly terrorists, were killed when a bomb went off apparently due to mishandling in the Orangi Town neighbourhood.
A senior police official Javed Alam Odho told The Express Tribune that the incident took place when a bomb being transported on a bike on an unpaved road exploded, tearing to pieces both the terrorist and his bike.
According to police, two of his aides, who were driving close behind him on another bike, were also hit by the shrapnel and pallets of the bomb and died immediately.
The police reached the spot and shifted the bodies to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
According to SSP West Irfanullah Baloch, the police found CNIC cards, SIMs and mobile phones on the scene. “Two of the terrorists have been identified as Asmat Ullah and Rafi Ullah.”
He said the bomb was placed in the chassis of the bike. “It weighed around five kilos and contained ball bearings and iron buttons.”
Blast in Lahore
In Lahore the terrorists once gain chose the Anarkali food street, where a blast ripped through a restaurant at around noon, killing one and injuring at least 16 others.
According to the restaurant owner, an unknown person had left a bag in the dining area prior to the blast. “A huge explosion took place only seconds after, shattering the glass windows and doors and damaging several buildings,” he said. The blast also left a one-foot deep and three-foot wide crater at the site.
The police cordoned off the street after the explosion and rescue teams ferried the victims to Mayo Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. All roads leading to the old Anarkali Bazaar were closed off and a manhunt was launched.
According to the District Coordination Officer Naseem Sadiq, three of the injured, including the shop owner’s son and a woman, were in critical condition.
A Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) man said the bomb was a timed device and weigh around one kilo.
According to a police official forensic evidence had been collected and it showed that ball bearings were used in the bomb.
Inspector General Police (IGP) Punjab Khan Baig said no one had claimed responsibility for the explosion. “Only after initial investigations would the police be able to confirm as to who is behind the attack,” he said.
The police, however, had rounded up two suspects near the blast site and shifted them to an unknown destination.
Blast in Peshawar
In Peshawar three khasadar personnel on polio duty sustained injuries when a roadside bomb detonated near their vehicle on Ring Road on Thursday evening.
The police said around 18 khasadar force officials were in the vehicle en route from Akka Khel, Khyber Agency when the incident took place.
The injured were shifted to Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) where their condition was said to be stable.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2013.
COMMENTS (19)
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@Akbaruddin: But not equal in death toll This unjustice require justice.
Taliban should be appreciated for one thing. They treat all the provinces equally.
@naeem khan Manhattan,Ks: instead of giving lecture to kuffars, you should come to pakistan and try to resolve problems. adding manhattan in your name shows your love for countries. you beggar.
Remember,and please draw attention on the circumstances attributted to the past. You did set the table and invited them to come but they refused to attend the talk. They demanded pre condition dialogue that were not aceeptable.
Co militants were freed on the request of an close quarter concerned but their terrorists activities remained continued,they attacked on church and claimed more than 80 lives.
They crossed all the limits in committing three insurgencies within a week,and made the country unsafe for its own citizen.
And now they have targanted four places in all provinces,people are pointing fingers on your credibility in regard to provide safety to the common man living in the country under your rule.
Pleas move to the decision making authority,and take a firm decision take confidence building meausres and finishe them to the last extent that is better.
Time is running out. It will never come back, Delay is not favorable. We should tak a decision, Some quarter concerned presenting a proposal, That of union in ranks to face the menace of terrorism, In view of the circumstance it is acceptable we should recognized it
With a unity of power under agreement should put up the roots of insurgents playing with country's sovereinty and lives of innocent people, They are destroying the Islamic state, We should stop them by holding their hand with full power,
@ashish: Until we have Punjabi and Sindhi leadership in Pakistan..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................We have no chance of survival.
We have in past beleive and presently bank for positive achievement on faces like Nawaz Sharif (& family), Imran (Jamaima & family), Jamat e Islami, Jamiat Ulema e Islam, Mr. Maulana Sami and journalist like Ansar Abbasi etc. They have soft corners for Taliban and they support Taliban heinous crimes against their fellow country men, women and children. So in my opinion we do not have any right to blame India, Israel, America, Brundi, Honolulu, Bhutan or others for the trouble we are going through..
@FYI: What you mean by that,they are rebal not terrorists , not understandable. According to my considered opinion,terrorist and rebal have same mother.with diferent father.
@naeem khan Manhattan,Ks: Pakistan is competing with somalia,but even in somalia you can't find daily bombings
@naeem khan Manhattan,Ks:
chill dude. instead of blaming india ,you should look at your own country , which is a sinking ship.
@FYI, jg and Khodam. you trolls should have the courage to come here under your real names, why don't you monitor your own papers and write your hateful comments there. Just leave us alone, don't you people get it , the more you write these hateful comments, the more we dislike you Indians and some of us even hate you to extent to harm you. There is no need of these hateful comments, unless you are paid by the Indian government to sit all day to monitor and then write what you write. Just look into your own country, what your security forces are doing to the people of Kashmir and Assam. More than 100,00 Kashmiris has been killed in the last 10 years and not to speak of rapes of Kashmiri women by Indian forces. Why not look into your own back yard and see the rampant poverty, lack of education, rapes, health facilities, infrastructure and corruption to mention few. Improve your own country and then spew this venom at others specially the Pakistanis.
It is surprising that no surveillance cameras are mounted outside this particular police station in Quetta, if it is then no one was monitoring it, if any one was leaving a bike ladden with package, the police officer inside could have seen it and even try to arrest the person who was leaving the bike there. It is time that federal and provincial government install these cameras all over cities to monitor these terrorists, the money spent on these cameras will benefit the law enforcement agencies and the public. Ask for help from London police, they have perfected the art of surveillance.
pakistani taliban are on the way to target enemy
pakistani taliban cant be stopped
no one is able to pakistani taliban they killed general niazi and said we killed him so thats the spirit one needs
message is clear.STATE has failed to protect its citizens.we are the real powers.negotiate on our terms for peace since we will gurantee peace only.
while the govt pleads for peace talks.what a nation and what a military
Pakistan is burning itself in the flames of fire which it had started!
These are probably Rebels, and not terrorists. Just like the ones ET Reported when they tried to enter India via Keran Sector J&K, India and were shot dead by Indian Army.