PESHAWAR: Three officials of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) were killed and seven others, including a policeman and a passerby, injured when a bomb hit a vehicle carrying personnel of the paramilitary force in a suburb of the city on Tuesday.

Medics at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) confirmed that 10 victims of the blast were brought to the hospital. Three of them had died before reaching the hospital and seven injured were admitted to it.

The incident took place in the Bashirabad area, about 5km from here. An official at the Faqirabad police station told Dawn that the blast, caused by an improvised explosive device, occurred at around 10am and targeted a police truck transporting FC personnel to the Police Lines.

The FC personnel had been deputed with police as part of extra security measures in the city on the occasion of Chehlum of Imam Hussain, Senior Superinten­dent of Police (operations) Sajjad Khan said. The FC personnel were being shifted from the Faqirabad police station when the blast hit the truck they were travelling in.

“It was an isolated vehicle and not part of a convoy,” SSP Khan said. Apparently, the FC personnel were the target of the attack.

He said that an IED weighing about a kilogramme had been used in the assault.

In a statement emailed to media organisations, Jamaatul Ahrar spokesperson Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the banned militant outfit.

The statement said that a remote controlled device was used in the blast.

The slain soldiers were identified as Hanif Jamal, Khalid and Yasirullah, all residents of Malakand. Their funeral prayers were offered at the FC headquarters in Peshawar after which their bodies were sent to their villages.

The Counter-Terrorism Department has registered an FIR and started investigation.

Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan and the Pakistan Muslim League-N’s senior leader Amir Muqam, in separate statements, have condemned the attack.

The ANP leader said that terrorists were repeatedly targeting law enforcement agencies but “rulers are refusing to budge”.

He said that the countries of the region had to cooperate with each other to overcome terrorism.

Mr Muqam said that a handful of terrorists were engaged in such activities and they would also be taken to the task.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2016