HYDERABAD: A member of the Rangers team on a routine patrol in Tandojam was slightly wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) placed on a bicycle parked outside the Sindh Agriculture University on Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Road went off on Friday morning.

Lance Naik Nasir suffered a wound on his knee but the other members of the team travelling with him in a truck escaped unhurt. The blast caused several dents to the vehicle. Soon after the blast, police and Rangers personnel along with the bomb disposal squad (BDS) rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area.

The official in charge of the BDS Mohammad Ramzan, after examining the pieces of the devices and inspecting the blast site, said that around 200-300 grams of explosive material and a hand grenade were packed in a pressure cooker to cause a huge blast but fortunately the grenade did not explode.

Splinters of the IED were found even about 150 feet away from the place it was planted, he said, adding that his team with the assistance of Rangers men safely defused the hand grenade.Later, Hyderabad SSP Irfan Baloch told the media that the blast was targeted against Rangers men as they routinely patrolled the area. The IED would have caused more casualties and damage had the grenade also exploded, he said. One suspect was picked up for interrogation into the blast.

He observed that proscribed nationalist groups bankrolled by Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) had been carrying out such attacks in the past in this province.

Published in Dawn December 10th, 2016