QUETTA: Preliminary investigation into the two explosions that hit as many vehicles in Ziarat on Friday suggested that improvised explosive devices (IED) were used to carry out the terror attacks which claimed five lives and left 13 people injured.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Both the IEDs were attached to the vehicles with magnet, said the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Saturday.

The CTD has registered two First Information Reports (FIR) of the bomb blasts on the report of Levies Force, Ziarat. Copies of the FIRs are available with Dawn.

Senior CTD officer Khalil Ahmed while confirming the registration of FIRs said that according to the bomb disposal squad nearly two to three kilograms of explosives were used for the explosions.

The CTD, which is investigating the Ziarat blasts, said that evidence had been collected from the sites of the blasts. “We are investigating both the incidents,” CTD official Ahmed said, adding that in the light of evidence a probe had been launched. But, so far, no arrests had been made.

The first blast took place when a vehicle carrying members of the Bohra community was on its way to the Kharwari Baba shrine, located on the outskirts of Ziarat town, killing three members of a family. The second blast occurred in the evening when a group of Shia Hazara was returning to Quetta after spending the day in Ziarat. The explosion occurred when the van they were travelling in reached near the Kawas area, resulting in the death of two persons on the spot.

On Saturday, bodies of three victims belonging to one family which included parents and their son were handed over to their relatives for transporting them back to Karachi. The bodies of the two victims from the Hazara community were handed over to their family in Quetta. The victims were buried in the Hazara graveyard on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2019