QUETTA: A senior police officer and two of his colleagues were martyred and nine others were injured in a suicide attack on Thursday.

DIG Police Telecommunication Hamid Shakeel Sabir was going to the police headquarters from his residence when he was targeted in the Airport Road area of Chaman Housing Society.

“It was a suicide bombing,” SSP Operations Nasibullah confirmed.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Fourth suicide blast targeting senior cops in six months; TTP claims responsibility

It was the fourth assault over the past six months in which senior police officers were targeted.

Official sources identified the other deceased as Assistant Sub-Inspector Mohammad Ramzan and Constable Jalil Ahmed.

Doctors at the Combined Military Hospital, where the victims had been rushed to after the attack, said they had received multiple injuries.

Sources claimed that the suicide bomber, who was said to be lying in wait, struck the side of the vehicle where the DIG was sitting.

Apart from the DIG’s official vehicle, a private car and a rickshaw were badly damaged by the impact of the explosion.

The bomb disposal squad collected evidence from the scene of the occurrence.

“Around 15kg of explosive material was used in the attack and a hand-grenade was defused. The device was in the attacker’s hand,” the bomb disposal squad officials said in a statement.

Police released CCTV footage of the blast.

“We have collected the bomber’s body parts,” a police officer told Dawn, adding that the samples would be sent to Lahore for forensic examination.

A team of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency will arrive in Quetta on Friday to examine the bombing site and collect evidence.

DIG Sabir joined the police as DSP in 1988 and served on key positions — SSP investigation, DPO Qila Abdullah, SSP traffic and SDPO — before being appointed DIG Telecommunication after his promotion recently.

Eight of the injured were identified as Constables Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Aslam and Ainuddin Ahmed, and civilians Jamal Shah, Mohammad Noman, Mohammad Anwar, Mohammad Saad and Mohammad Ashraf.

Balochistan Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai, provincial ministers, Commander Southern Command Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, Frontier Corps IG Maj Gen Nadeem Anjum and IG Police Moazzam Jah Ansari attended the funeral prayers at the Police Line.

Chief Minister Sanaullah Khan Zehri condemned the attack and directed the authorities to tighten security across the city to avert such attacks.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2017