CHARSADDA/BAJAUR: A police official was killed and another injured in a blast of improvised explosive device blast outside a police station in Charsadda district on Friday.

Also in the day, a roadside explosion injured four people in Bajaur tribal district.

The local police and residents told Dawn that an IED planted near the outside boundary wall of the Nesata police station went off in the afternoon, immediately killing police constable Rahim Shah and injuring another.

The injured was shifted to the district headquarters hospital, where his condition was stated to be stable.

The blast damaged a portion of the boundary wall and the main gate. The police cordoned off the area after the explosion and began a search operation for the culprit(s).

No group claimed responsibility for the terrorist activity.

The police registered an FIR against unidentified miscreants and began investigation. However, no arrests were made until night.

Meanwhile, four people were injured as a roadside bomb went off in Mamond tehsil of Bajaur district.

The act of terrorism was carried out at around 3pm in Erab area, which is 22km northwest of district headquarters Khar.

District police officer Abdul Samad Khan told reporters that four people were returning home on the link road when the bomb exploded near them.

He said that the injured were immediately shifted to the district headquarters hospital, Khar, and two of them were referred to a Peshawar hospital due to critical condition.

The DPO said that the police had begun investigation to ascertain motive behind the explosion. However, no one was arrested until the last reports came in.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast, which occurred two days after the killing of JUI-F leader Mufti Bashir Ahmad by unidentified gunmen in his native Mamund tehsil.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2022