QUETTA: A policeman was martyred and 19 others, including 14 police personnel, a lecturer and a student, were injured in a motorcycle bomb blast near Balochistan University in the Sariab Road area on Monday.

The txarget of the blast was believed to be a police truck carrying personnel for change of security duty at the site of a students’ demonstration against the Hoshab killing.

Sources said the police personnel were getting off the truck parked on Sariab Road, some distance from the university’s main gate, when a powerful blast occurred close to the vehicle.

A constable was martyred on the spot, while 19 others were injured. Soon after the blast, police and Frontier Corps personnel rushed to the site and cordoned off the entire area and started shifting the injured to hospital.

Police truck is believed to be the target of attack

“A police truck carrying personnel was targeted in the blast,” Operations Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asad Nasar claimed, adding that a policeman lost his life. “An explosives-fitted motorcycle was used for targeting the police truck parked in the area.”

The truck was badly damaged, while windowpanes of nearby shops and buildings were shattered due to the impact of the blast that was heard across Quetta city. According to the police, the bomb was detonated with a remote control.

“We have received 19 injured and one body of a policeman in the trauma centre of the civil hospital,” Dr Wasim Baig, the spokesman for the Provincial Sandeman Civil Hospital, told Dawn, adding that five civilians were injured in the blast.

Police said the 14 injured personnel were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital after receiving initial treatment at the Civil Hospital. A Balochistan University lecturer, Prof Dr Nizamuddin, and a student were injured in the blast.

Provincial Home Minister Ziaullah Langove called the blast an act of terrorism and said the police personnel targeted were deployed in the area to provide security to members of various factions of the Baloch Students Organisation that were staging a sit-in against the killing of two children in Hoshab area of Kech district.

Balochistan’s Inspector General Police Mohammad Tahir Rai, SSP Nasar and other police officers visited the site, while the bomb disposal squad collected evidence from the area.

The martyred policeman was identified as Naimatullah, while the injured included Amir Khan, Mehmood Khan, Nadeem Ahmed, Babar Maqbool, Khalil Ahmed, Dr Nizamuddin, Shaheryar, Muhammad Hussain, Muhammad Rafiq, Shah Faisal, Muhammad Aslam, Muham­mad Omer, Mohibullah, Abdul Malik, Ataullah Raheel, Muhammad Kamran, Muhammad Khalid and Dawood Jan.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2021