3 killed, policemen among 13 injured in Pishin blast

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3 killed, policemen among 13 injured in Pishin blast​

Dawn.com | Abdullah Zehri
August 24, 2024

This photo shows damaged vehicles after a blast occurred near Surkhab Chowk in Balochistan’s Pishin district on Aug 24, 2024. — Photo via author

This photo shows damaged vehicles after a blast occurred near Surkhab Chowk in Balochistan’s Pishin district on Aug 24, 2024.


Two children and a woman were killed on Saturday while two policemen were among 13 people injured when a blast occurred at a main market near Surkhab Chowk in Balochistan’s Pishin district, hospital officials said.

The incident is the latest in a string of attacks on police officials and checkposts, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Attacks escalated after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022 and vowed to target security forces.

According to a list of the casualties issued by Dr Wakeel Sherani, the medical superintendent at Pishin Civil Hospital, two children were killed in today’s blast while 14 were initially injured.

Thirteen of the wounded were referred to the Quetta Trauma Centre, where a woman succumbed to her injuries, a list issued by the hospital’s managing director Dr Arbab Kamran showed.

Five injured people were in serious condition, two had minor injuries, the treatment of three was under way and two had been discharged from the Trauma Centre, the list stated.

According to Pishin City Station House Officer (SHO) Mujibur Rehman, the two injured policemen were in critical condition.

“Apparently, the explosive material was planted in a motorcycle,” SHO Rehman said, adding that as a result, three vehicles were damaged.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Bomb Disposal Squad have reached the incident site to collect evidence for a probe, the official said.

According to state broadcaster PTV News, the blast occurred near the Pishin deputy commissioner’s office.

The attack comes days after two pedestrians were injured in a roadside explosion in Noshki district, which the police said occurred when a convoy of Frontier Crops was passing by.

Last month, a blast in Pishin caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) left three CTD officials and three pedestrians injured. Police officials had said the attack was aimed at a CTD vehicle carrying the department’s personnel.

The same day, in a similar incident, a soldier of the Quick Response Force of the Frontier Corps South was martyred and seven others were injured in Kech district’s Buleda area

Source:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1854391/3-killed-policemen-among-13-injured-in-pishin-blast