RAWALPINDI, Feb 8: A technician was killed in an explosion in the heavily guarded Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) on Tuesday, official sources told Dawn. Technician Habibur Rehman was handling an explosive when it went off.

Director-General, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan, when contacted, confirmed the death of the technician and termed it a “minor accident”. The ISPR chief said that an investigation into the incident had been initiated to ascertain the cause of the explosion and to see whether the SOP had been violated. “The technician was handling a normal explosive when it exploded”, Gen Sultan said.

When asked about the time of the incident, the ISPR chief said: “It happened sometime during Tuesday.” When the Kahuta police station was contacted and asked about the incident, they denied any such occurrence in their jurisdiction.—Staff Reporter