QUETTA: Three people, among them two women, were killed and a child received injuries on Wednesday in a landmine explosion at a village near the Pakistan-Iran border.

Security officials said the landmine, which was planted by unknown people at a roadside in Rajay village in Chagai district, hit a vehicle passing through the area.

The blast took place at a time when newly elected Senate Chairman Mir Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani was visiting his native town of Nokundi in Chagai district.

Two women and a child were travelling in the vehicle along with the driver. “A woman and the driver were killed on the spot,” Chagai Deputy Commissioner Imran Ibrahim said, adding that security personnel shifted the dead and the injured to a nearby government hospital.

Another woman, who was seriously injured in the blast, succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. However, the five-year-old child was admitted to the hospital.

The deceased were identified as Bibi Nasima and Maryyam Bibi and driver Abdul Rehman Reki.

The vehicle was destroyed in the explosion.

“The vehicle crossed into the Pakistani area illegally from the Iranian side and was moving towards its destination when it hit the landmine,” Deputy Commissioner Ibrahim said.

Official sources said that the Frontier Corps and Levies personnel had launched a search operation in the area after the incident.

The sources said that security was beefed up in the border area with Iran after the landmine blast by deploying more FC personnel.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2018