QUETTA: Seven personnel of the Frontier Corps were martyred and three others injured in a bomb blast in the Khost area, about 150km northeast of Quetta, in Harnai district, and in firing in Panjgur district on Monday evening.

According to officials, a vehicle carrying FC personnel was hit by a powerful bomb when it was passing through Khost, about 16km from Harnai town. Six FC soldiers lost their lives and the driver and a non-commissioned officer of the paramilitary force suffered injuries.

“Six FC soldiers were martyred on the spot,” Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the Balochis­tan government, told Dawn, adding that two others were seriously injured.

Levies officials said the FC personnel were patrolling areas between the Khost checkpost and Shahrag coalmine.

The vehicle was destroyed in the powerful explosion that was heard far and wide, a senior Levies official said, adding that an improvised explosive device was used in the blast. It was planted on a road linking Khost with the Shahrag coalmine area and detonated by remote control, he added.

Soon after the blast, security forces rushed to the area and shifted the bodies and injured to the Harnai district hospital. The two injured FC men were shifted to Quetta as their condition was stated to be serious.

In Panjgur district, one FC man was martyred and another injured when gunmen opened fire on vehicles of the paramilitary force patrolling the Naag area, according to officials.

The dead FC man was identified as Mohammad Shahid and the injured as Mohammad Tariq who was under treatment at a hospital.

On Saturday night, a powerful explosion near Quetta’s Pishin Stop left least 15 people, including eight security personnel, dead and over 30 injured.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2017