KARACHI: Three officials of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) were wounded when their armoured-personnel carrier (APC) was attacked with a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) near Northern Bypass on early Wednesday morning,

Senior CTD official Raja Umer Khattab said that their intelligence wing had been working on the presence of militants belonging to the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in Karachi and its adjoining cities in Baluchistan, and when it was returning from its mission, the APC was attacked with an IED, which was fitted in a motorbike near a graveyard in Mai Gari area.

He said that the right side of the mobile was damaged due to the impact of the blast. He said the officers were injured by the shards of the vehicle’s glass that damaged because of the explosion.

As per report of the bomb disposal squad, around two kilograms of explosives was used in the IED.

The explosion was carried out with a remote control device that was recovered from the area.

The CTD official said they had reports that TTP sleeper cells in Hub, Sakran and Khuzdar had been activated to carry out terrorist attacks.

He said extortion calls were being made to people from SIM cards of Afghanistan but the money was received by militants based in the bordering area of Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023