QUETTA: A judge of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) narrowly escaped a bomb attack which left four policemen escorting him and nine other people injured here on Thursday.

According to sources, an improvised explosive device (IED) was placed on an overhead bridge on Zarghoon Road apparently to target FSC Judge Malik Zahoor Ahmed Shahwani as his car passed through the area minutes before the blast. They said the blast hit a police van following the judge’s car.

Police said the bomb was detonated by remote control.

Soon after the blast security personnel rushed to the area and shifted the injured to hospitals.

The powerful blast shattered windowpanes of many buildings on Zarghoon Road where some private hospitals are located.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti and Inspector General of Frontier Corps Major General Sher Afgun visited the area after the blast.

The minister told reporters that around 4kg of explosives had been used in the blast.

He said attacks on security personnel were being carried out in a bid to sabotage Independence Day celebrations in the provincial capital.

However, he said, people would foil the nefarious designs of anti-peace elements.

The injured police personnel were identified as Nadeem Ahmed, Mohammad Asmat, Imdad Ali and Mohammad Farooq. Eight of nine other injured were identified as Nasir, Abdul Ali, Mohammad Ramzan, Mohammad Nasir, Mohammad Ismail, Ahmed Shah, Yousuf and Ajab Gul.

Police have registered a case and arrested a suspect.

It was second bomb blast in the city this week where people could not still come out of the shock of Monday’s suicide attack on the Civil Hospital which left over 70 people dead.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2016