Roadside blast: Four civilians injured in bomb attack on FC van

FC personnel escape unhurt; four to five kilogrammes of explosives used.

QUETTA:

A bomb attack on a Frontier Corps vehicle left four passersby injured on Sariab Road, security officials said on Friday. However, FC personnel remained unhurt in the attack.

The bomb was strapped to a bicycle parked near a fuel station on Sariab Road. The remote-controlled device was detonated when a vehicle of the paramilitary force passed by. The vehicle was partially damaged.

“The security personnel who were targeted in the blast remained unhurt,” Capital City Police Officer Abdul Razzaq Cheema told The Express Tribune. The FC vehicle was on routine patrol when it was targeted.

The injured were later shifted to the Sandeman Provincial Hospital where they were identified as Ahmed Ali, Ameer Hamza, Araz Khan and Mohammed Atif Qalandrani. They received multiple splinter wounds, but none of them was critically injured.



According to the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), four to five kilograms of explosive material was used in the blast. No group claimed responsibility for the attack till the filing of this story.

Commenting on the situation, a spokesperson for the Balochistan government, Jan Mohammed Buledi, said that the province is facing sectarian violence and an insurgency. “One group targets Shias while separatists target security forces and political workers in Balochistan,” he said. “The government is making its utmost efforts to bring peace. These two issues are being treated differently as they are different in nature,” the spokesperson added.

Bullet-riddled bodies found

Balochistan Levies recovered four bullet-riddled bodies—two men and two women—from the Mangochar area of Kalat district, about 145 kilometres south of Quetta.

Levies official Bashir Ahmed said passersby spotted the bodies and informed the Kalat Levies police.

The bodies were shifted to hospital where they were identified as Bibi Zinab, Shakira Bibi from the Mengal tribe and Jumma Khan and Nasrullah, residents of Dera Murad Jamali who belonged to the Jatak tribe.

“The couples were in an illicit relationship and had been missing for two days,” Balochistan Levies Official Bashir Ahmed.

According to hospital sources, the victims were shot from a close range.

Kalat Deputy Commissioner Salahudin Noorzai told reporters that Abdul Qadir, husband of one of the victims, had allegedly killed them and was on the run.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2014.