Army major martyred in Peshawar suicide attack
PESHAWAR: A military officer was martyred and 10 other people, including three soldiers, were injured when a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a Frontier Corps vehicle at a busy roundabout of Hayatabad locality in Peshawar, police and rescue workers said.
The Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) identified the officer as Major Jamal Sheran.
In a brief statement, the ISPR said that a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle hit the FC vehicle which was on a routine patrolling. “Major Jamal Sheran embraced shahdat while four soldiers were injured,” the statement read.
Cantonment Circle Peshawar SP Imran Ahmad Malik told Dawn that the officer was on his way to the paramilitary force’s headquarters located at the Balahisar Fort from the FC complex in Phase-VI area of Hayatabad when the bomber targeted his vehicle.
He said between 10 and 12 kilograms of explosives were used for the blast.
An official of the Hayatabad police station said that the incident took place at around 8.30am at the Bagh-i-Narann roundabout.
A source told Dawn that Major Jamal was attached with the paramilitary force’s Special Operations Group which conducts counterterrorism and other special operations.
A Rescue 1122 statement issued here said that its personnel shifted 10 injured to the nearby Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC).
It identified the injured soldiers as Shah Nawaz, Waliullah and Zahir Shah and civilian victims as Amir Jan, Sharafat, Humayun, Shahida, Ahmed Shah, Laila and Sarmad Shah.
The blast came a day after the military announced launching Operation Khyber-IV in remote Rajgal valley of Khyber Agency to keep check on the influx of members of the militant Islamic State group from Afghanistan.
Located on the western tip of the provincial capital, Hayatabad neighbourhood abuts onto Jamurd tehsil of Khyber Agency.