MIANWALI, Sept 7: Bhakkar police claim the three people who died in a blast early Thursday morning in a Klorkot tehsil village were militants and were preparing for a terror strike.

It said the blast at an isolated house was caused by an explosive-laden vest.

Police sources identified the dead as Moavia Tariq, Muhammad Irfan and Malik Javed who belonged to Mohallah Miana Gondal of Malakwal, Mandi Bahauddin district.

Their autopsy was completed on Thursday night at the Jandanwala Rural Health Centre which revealed that they died due to injuries caused by the blast. Their identity was established through their CNICs.

Muhammad Mansha, a maternal uncle of Malik Javed, reached Jandanwala and identified the three deceased. According to him, the three were fast friends and had been missing for the last nine months. He denied lodging any report about their disappearance with the local police since their parents and other relatives suspected that they had been picked up by the agencies.

The bodies were still lying at Jandanwala RHC as authorities waited for the relatives of other deceased to reach there.

The police believed that two other accomplices of the deceased were injured in the blast, but they managed their escape. The police suspicion was based on blood spots leading to a nearby road.

The Jandanwala police registered a case against five militants, including three nominated, under sections 7-ATA, 302 and 120 PPC.