PESHAWAR: A military officer was martyred and 10 other people, including three soldiers, were injured when a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a Frontier Corps vehicle at a busy roundabout of Hayatabad locality in Peshawar, police and rescue workers said.

The Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) identified the officer as Major Jamal Sheran.

In a brief statement, the ISPR said that a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle hit the FC vehicle which was on a routine patrolling. “Major Jamal Sheran embraced shahdat while four soldiers were injured,” the statement read.

Cantonment Circle Peshawar SP Imran Ahmad Malik told Dawn that the officer was on his way to the paramilitary force’s headquarters located at the Balahisar Fort from the FC complex in Phase-VI area of Hayatabad when the bom­ber targeted his vehicle.

He said between 10 and 12 kilograms of explosives were used for the blast.

An official of the Hayat­abad police station said that the incident took place at around 8.30am at the Bagh-i-Narann roundabout.

A source told Dawn that Major Jamal was attached with the paramilitary force’s Special Operations Group which conducts counterterrorism and other special operations.

A Rescue 1122 statement issued here said that its personnel shifted 10 injured to the nearby Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC).

It identified the injured soldiers as Shah Nawaz, Waliullah and Zahir Shah and civilian victims as Amir Jan, Sharafat, Humayun, Shahida, Ahmed Shah, Laila and Sarmad Shah.

The blast came a day after the military announced launching Operation Khyber-IV in remote Rajgal valley of Khyber Agency to keep check on the influx of members of the militant Islamic State group from Afghanistan.

Located on the western tip of the provincial capital, Hayatabad neighbourhood abuts onto Jamurd tehsil of Khyber Agency.

Funeral prayers for the officer were offered in the Peshawar Corps headquarters and later his body was sent to Balochistan for burial.

Major Sheran was laid to rest in his native town of Pathan Kahur, near Turbat, late on Monday night.

His body was flown to Turbat from Quetta and army and local administration officers received it at the Turbat airport.

His funeral prayers were later offered at the Turbat football ground.

Commandant of Frontier Corps, army and civil government officers and a large number of people attended the funeral prayers.

In a statement issued in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtun­khwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak condemned the killing of the FC officer in the suicide attack and conveyed his condolences to his family.

Chaman blast

A Frontier Corps (FC) soldier was martyred in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Chaman town of Qila Abdullah district near the Pak-Afghan border on Monday.

Official sources said the IED, planted near the Talab check-post, exploded when the FC soldier was patrolling the area.

“As a result of the explosion, the soldier received multiple injuries,” security officials said, adding that the FC personnel rushed to the site and shifted him to the hospital. However, he had succumbed to his injuries on the spot, confirmed the doctors.

The deceased was identified as Himmat Khan.

Security forces cordoned off the area and started a search operation but no arrest was reported till in late night.

Behram Baloch in Gwadar and Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this story

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2017