PESHAWAR: A police van narrowly escaped an IED explosion on Warsak Road on the outskirts of the provincial capital on Wednesday morning.

DSP Warsak division Arbab Naeem said the explosion took place seconds after a police mobile van passed the site in the jurisdiction of the Michni Gate police station.

He said it was a locally manufactured IED and planted on the median of the road.

“Policemen in the mobile van were on their way to Mathra area when the IED went off. They all remained unhurt.”

DSP Naeem told Dawn that around 10 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the bomb. He also said the Counter-Terrorism Department would probe the case. This was the third blast occurring on the same road and almost in the same location during the last nine months.

Earlier, an IED exploded with a bang on the same road on December 6, 2023, leaving six persons, including four children, wounded. The police said the IED was planted in the cemented block on the median of the Warsak Road.

A month later, a Frontier Corps soldier was martyred and nine others, including three civilians, were wounded in a similar explosion targeting an FC convoy of Mohmand Rifles. The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility of the attack.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2024