The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for three separate attacks across the country on Saturday, killing a Frontier Corps official in Quetta and a retired major of the Pakistan Army in Karachi, and wounding a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Peshawar.
Major (r) Ali Raza was shot dead in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) neighbourhood on Saturday.
According to police sources, unidentified men riding a motorbike shot dead Raza in DHA’s Phase-I. The body of the deceased was shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).
In Quetta, at least one security official was killed and four others including a child were injured in a bomb blast on the Brewery road on Saturday.
According to rescue workers, the bomb went off close to a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpost at Main Chowk on Brewery Road.
As a result of the explosion, which was heard far and wide, at least four FC personnel and a minor were injured, however, one of the injured FC men later succumbed to his injuries.
The injured were shifted to the Civil Hospital Quetta for treatment.
In a statement sent to the media, the outlawed TTP claimed responsibility for the blast.
Brewery Road is considered to be one of the sensitive areas of Quetta. The area has witnessed a number of attacks in the past as well.
In Peshawar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jandad Khan, who works with the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), was injured in a targeted attack in Qazi Kalay area.
Armed assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on the DSP and inflicted multiple injuries, said police officials.
The injured official was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where he underwent emergency medical treatment, said hospital sources.
Hospital sources added that the police official’s condition was stable and he was shifted to the recovery room after surgery.
Jandad Khan was posted as a CTD DSP in Charsadda district.
The attack was also claimed by the TTP.
Peshawar suffered the worst terror attack in Pakistani history in December 2014 when TTP gunmen massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, at an army-run school.
But recently then there has been a lull in violence. The last deadly attack in the city came in February when three heavily armed Taliban militants stormed a Shia mosque, killing 21 people.
Military operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched against insurgent hideouts in North Waziristan on June 15 following a brazen militant attack on Karachi’s international airport and the failure of peace talks between the government and TTP negotiators.
Officials say nearly 3,000 militants have been killed since the launch of the latest offensive.
The number of attacks in Pakistan has fallen around 70 per cent this year, due to a combination of a military offensive against Taliban bases along the Afghan border and government initiatives to tackle militancy.