3 FC personnel among 15 hurt in Quetta roadside blast

By Shahzad Baloch

QUETTA: At least 15 persons, including 3 security personnel, were injured in a remote-control bomb explosion in the heart of the Quetta city on Saturday evening.

Hotel workers informed police regarding suspected motorcycle parked before the hotel an hour earlier but Police and bomb disposal squad reached only after the blast.

An explosive device was planted in a motorcycle that parked outside of AL-Naeem Hotel on Jinnah Road close to the Imdad Chawk. The Blast occurred while Frontier Corps patrolling team was passing through near the hotel. The blast target was security patrolling team, it is suspected. Three personnel reported to be injured in the blast and shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) where injured are said to be out of danger, source said.

Ten Injuries were shifted to Civil Hospital by private cars and Ambulances where one of them was identified as Sajid who is said to be in critical condition.

Police and Bomb Disposal Squad reached on the spot soon after the blast, cordoned off the area and collected evidence. Four kg explosive material was said to be used in the blast, Bomb Disposal Squad sources told newsmen.

Injured persons were identified as Muhammad Iqbal, Gullbadin, Slahuddin, Jahangir, Shah Khalid, Shahid, Gul Zaib, Sajjad, Abdul Razaq, Muhammad Ashraf, Fakher-ud-din, Ahmed, Shamsuddin, and Abdul Manan.

“After the blast FC personnel fired several blank shots that created fear among the people,” injured Abdul Razaq added. It was also reported by some of the private news channels.

APP adds: Capital City Police Officer Quettta (CCPO) Shabir Sheikh has said that common people were the target of Imdad Chok blast that left 10 people injured.

Talking to media men soon after the blast here Saturday, he said police despite information of a bomb presence put their lives at risk to save the repercussion of explosion.

He dispelled the impression that Law Enforcement Agencies were the target saying “on account of effective measures put by police, terrorists attempted to attack the general public”.

He noted that all-out efforts are being placed to cope with the menace of terrorism facing the country.

He also announced a ban on pillion riding and crackdown on vehicles bearing no number plates.

Perpetrators behind the heinous crime would be brought to book and dealt with iron hand he added.