At least seven security personnel were among nine people killed in two separate incidents of violence in Quetta and Bannu on Wednesday.
Five people, including three security officials, were killed and another 11 injured in a powerful blast in Quetta’s Shahbaz Town area that targeted security forces, police said. “Explosives weighing 12kgs to 15kgs were strapped to a motorbike that was left abandoned on Smungli Road near City Hall with an intention to target a security vehicle escorting schoolchildren,” DIG Investigation Hamid Shakeel said.
He said findings gathered so far suggested that a remote control was used to detonate the bomb just as the security forces’ vehicle passed through the area.
As a result, three security personnel died on the spot while 11 suffered injuries. Two of the 11 injured later succumbed to their injuries.
The DIG Investigation, however, did not confirm the casualty of any civilian. “There are reports of 11 people, three security personnel among them, who have been injured and being treated at CMH,” he maintained. “Several buildings and vehicles in the neighbourhood were damaged when the bomb went off,” witnesses said.
“We have beefed up security in the provincial capital and started search to track the suspects down,” CCPO Mir Zubair Mehmood said. Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said in view of the emergency situation, protesting doctors had been asked to resume work in the emergency units of hospitals in Quetta. According to the hospital sources, the condition of some of the injured was critical. Investigations were underway. Meanwhile in Janikhel area of Bannu, four police personnel, including a station house officer (SHO), were killed when two armed motorcyclists opened fire on a police van patrolling the area. According to reports, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
