IED blast: One killed, seven injured in Chaman

Chaman police station SHO said IED was planted outside Nida Market

QUETTA:

A man was killed and seven others sustained injuries when unidentified terrorists detonated a remotely controlled improvised explosive device (IED) near a busy market in Chaman, the Balochistan town that shares border with Afghanistan.

According to Chaman’s District Police Officer (DPO) Asad Nasir the incident took place at the Mall Road area of the town. “All the victims were passersby and shoppers,” he told The Express Tribune.

Chaman police station SHO said the IED was planted outside the Nida Market, one of the busiest areas of the town which remains packed with people.

As a result of the explosion, eight people sustained injuries while windowpanes of nearby shops were shattered due to impact of the blast.  “The injured were transported to Civil Hospital Chaman, where one of them succumbed to his injuries,” he added.

He said around three to four kilogrammes of explosives was used in the IED.

Police, security forces and rescue workers rushed to the site after the incident and threw a cordon around the area. It was the second bombing in bordering town, where 12 pedestrians were also wounded in an IED attack on Sunday.

“The terrorists from the other side of the border are responsible for these bombings. Their aim is to spread terror among the masses,” DPO Asad Nasir said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2015.