QUETTA: A couple of hours after the reported suicide bombing in Lahore in which six police personnel were killed, two security men lost their lives in an unexpected explosion in Quetta on Monday night.

The commander of the Bomb Disposal Squad of the Special Branch was defusing the bomb placed by suspected militants near an overhead bridge in the Sariab Road area of Quetta when the device went off, police said.

“The BDS commander and a constable were killed in the blast,” DIG Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema said. Eight people were injured, he added.

Earlier, the area people informed the authorities after they spotted a suspect object placed close to a wall near the bridge. Police cordoned off the area and called the BDS.

The BDS headed by Commander Abdul Razzaq reached the site and he was trying to defuse the device when it exploded, killing him and Constable Abdul Majeed.

Hospital authorities said that eight injured people, including two policemen, had been brought to the facility. Police and authorities concerned were investigating the incident.

No group claimed involvement in the incident till late in night.

Published in Dawn February 14th, 2017