Close call: Bomb defused near MPA’s CNG pump

The police called the bomb disposal unit (BDU) which cordoned off the area before defusing the device.

TAKHT BHAI:

A high-intensity bomb was defused near a CNG pump owned by a member of the provincial assembly on Saturday.

An official of Takht Bhai police, Fazal Sher Khan, said the watchman of the pump spotted a canister planted beneath an electricity transformer early morning, after which he informed the station manager who called the police.

Fazal said the police then called the bomb disposal unit (BDU) which cordoned off the area before defusing the device. According to the BDU, eight kilogrammes of explosives were used in the bomb, which was powerful enough to destroy the pump and its surrounding structures.

The CNG pump is owned by an independent MPA from Mardan, Jamshed Mohmand, who told the police that he has not received threats from any militant group recently. Jamshed replaced his brother as the MPA from PK-27 after Imran Mohmand was killed in a suicide blast at a funeral along with 29 others soon after the 2013 general elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2014.