Police said on Thursday that “no loss of life or property” was reported in a blast that took place last night at the Deputy Commissioner camp office in Gilgit Baltistan’s Diamer district.

On Wednesday night, there was a loud explosion at the DC camp office premises, prompting the security guards present to open fire in the air.

Speaking to Dawn.com, Diamer Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Sher Khan said that a case had been registered and that an investigation was under way.

He said that the attack was carried out using a plastic bottle containing explosive material but said that it did not contain any ball bearings.

“It seems from the composition and scale of the explosion that the miscreants’ aim was not to cause loss of life or property; they wanted to pressurise the DC office for personal objectives,” the official said.

Khan further said that the back of the office, where the blast occurred, was located next to a forest which enabled the perpetrators to escape under the cover of darkness. He said that officials had collected samples of the explosive material and sent them for an analysis.

At the same time, the SSP refrained from linking the incident to the recent spate of terror attacks in the country. “The incident can’t be linked to ongoing terror attacks […] the aim was to spread fear,” he said.

He went on to say that the perpetrators appeared to be “untrained”, adding that officials were probing the motive behind the incident.