QUETTA: Three Levies personnel were martyred and two others injured in a remote-controlled motorbike blast targeting the vehicle of Barshor’s assistant commissioner in Pishin district on Friday.

Official sources said that the motorcycle was parked by the roadside along Bar­shor bypass and the attackers detonated the explosive device when the official’s vehicle was passing by.

As a result of the powerful blast, three Levies personnel died on the spot. “They received serious injuries and succumbed to their wounds before reaching hospital,” a senior official of Pishin Levies told Dawn.

The driver and another person travelling in the official’s vehicle received serious injuries. “It seems Assistant Commissioner Amir Zaman was the target of the blast,” said an official of the Pishin administration, adding that the official was not travelling in the vehicle when it was targeted.

One side of the vehicle was damaged in the blast.

Soon after the blast, personnel of the Frontier Corps and Levies rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and the injured to the Pishin district hospital after cordoning off the area. Later, the bodies and the injured were transferred to the Civil Hospital.

A bomb disposal squad (BDS) visited the explosion site and collected evidence. “An explosive device was planted on the motorcycle and detonated with a remote control,” the BDS officials said.

The deceased were identified as Jaffar Ali, Asmatullah and Abdul Baqi.

Provincial home minister Saleem Ahmed Khosa condemned the attack and expressed his grief over the loss of lives. He asked the officials concerned to submit a report of the blast to him as soon as possible. He added that the government would not bow down before elements who wanted to disrupt peace and order in Balochistan.

“The war against terrorism will continue,” said Mr Khosa, adding that the elements involved in this barbarian act would be brought to justice.

No one has claimed responsibility of the attack so far, but security forces are investigating the incident.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2018