Double tap: SHO among eight injured in Shangla blasts
TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid accepted responsibility for both the blasts.
The police were on their way to the blast site when the second roadside bomb exploded, injuring six officers, including the SHO. PHOTO: EXPRESS
MIRANSHAH/SWAT/SHANGLA:
The SHO of Bisham police station was among the eight officers injured in two separate explosions in Shangla’s Besham tehsil on Tuesday.
Bisham Circle police DSP Amjad Khan said the first blast took place when officers of Dawood police check post were on routine patrol in the area. A roadside bomb planted by unidentified militants went off just as they crossed the post.
Two policemen, identified as Khan Bahadur and Nisar Ahmed, were injured in the incident.
As officials from the police station, including SHO Sher Hassan, got into a van to reach the blast site, the second bomb exploded near Sarkol. Six policemen, including SHO Hassan, Akhtar and Umar Rehman, were injured in the blast.
The injured were taken to District Headquarters Hospital Battagram and then shifted to Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad. One of them, a policeman identified as Hafiz, is said to be in critical condition.
According to DSP Amjad Khan, after the explosions, the police intensified security at the check post and in the area. A search operation was launched in Dawood and Sarkol. The police claimed to have arrested several suspects.
On January 12, an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near the convoy of Adviser to the Prime Minister Amir Muqam, in Shangla. Muqam was unhurt but the three policemen and two security guards travelling with him were killed.
Explosives seized
Shangla police seized two sacks of explosive materials, six hand grenades, a rocket launcher, five rocket shells and several cartridges on Thursday in Maqozi, said the Malakand division DIG.
He added they also arrested eight suspects in a search operation in Chakiser.
The bomb disposal squad also defused two IED’s in Sarkol.
Speaking on the phone from an unknown location, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid accepted responsibility for both the blasts.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2014.
The SHO of Bisham police station was among the eight officers injured in two separate explosions in Shangla’s Besham tehsil on Tuesday.
Bisham Circle police DSP Amjad Khan said the first blast took place when officers of Dawood police check post were on routine patrol in the area. A roadside bomb planted by unidentified militants went off just as they crossed the post.
Two policemen, identified as Khan Bahadur and Nisar Ahmed, were injured in the incident.
As officials from the police station, including SHO Sher Hassan, got into a van to reach the blast site, the second bomb exploded near Sarkol. Six policemen, including SHO Hassan, Akhtar and Umar Rehman, were injured in the blast.
The injured were taken to District Headquarters Hospital Battagram and then shifted to Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad. One of them, a policeman identified as Hafiz, is said to be in critical condition.
According to DSP Amjad Khan, after the explosions, the police intensified security at the check post and in the area. A search operation was launched in Dawood and Sarkol. The police claimed to have arrested several suspects.
On January 12, an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near the convoy of Adviser to the Prime Minister Amir Muqam, in Shangla. Muqam was unhurt but the three policemen and two security guards travelling with him were killed.
Explosives seized
Shangla police seized two sacks of explosive materials, six hand grenades, a rocket launcher, five rocket shells and several cartridges on Thursday in Maqozi, said the Malakand division DIG.
He added they also arrested eight suspects in a search operation in Chakiser.
The bomb disposal squad also defused two IED’s in Sarkol.
Speaking on the phone from an unknown location, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid accepted responsibility for both the blasts.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2014.