BAJAUR: A child was killed and his brother injured when a bomb planted alongside a road exploded in Mamond tehsil here on Wednesday evening. Police and residents said the blast occurred in the hilly Lowi Kharki area.

“Both the children were playing on the road when an improvised explosive device planted there by unknown miscreants went off,” a police official said while quoting witnesses.

He told Dawn that both children, identified as Farman Khan, 12, and Fawad Khan, 9, were critically injured in the explosion and were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Khar for treatment.

The official, however, said Farman succumbed to his injuries in the hospital, adding that Fawad was in critical condition. No one claimed responsibility for the explosion as of the filing of this report on Wednesday evening.

However, the police have started an investigation into the explosion, according to a statement.

Meanwhile, people from different walks of life expressed their anger and sorrow over the explosion, which occurred hours after the killing of a policeman by unknown attackers in the Inayat Kallay Bazaar on Wednesday morning.

They demanded that the police ensure the immediate arrest of the perpetrators of the blast and the killers of the policeman.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2024