QUETTA: At least six police officials were martyred and 16 other personnel, including eight Frontier Corps soldiers, were wounded in three suicide attacks on security forces on Tuesday.

While two suicide bombers attempting to enter the FC camp were killed in an exchange of fire with the FC personnel in the Western Bypass area, another suicide bomber riding an explosives-laden motorbike managed to hit a truck carrying Balochistan Consta­bulary personnel on Airport Road.

In the evening, the proscribed Hizbul Ahrar claimed the responsibility for the attack on the FC camp. A spokesman for the banned outfit identified the attackers as Abdul Basit Momand and Omer Afridi.

Balochistan police chief Moaz­zam Jah Ansari said: “It was a suicide attack. A suicide bomber hit his explosives-laden motorbike with the Balochistan Constabulary truck.”

A senior police official, who rushed to the site along with other security personnel following the attack, said: “Five Balochistan Constabulary soldiers were martyred on the spot while the truck was completely destroyed in the powerful explosion.”

Rescue workers took the bodies to the Civil Hospital Quetta. “We initially received five bodies and later another body was brought along with eight injured police personnel,” said Dr Wasim Baig, the spokesman for the hospital. The injured were shifted to the trauma centre for treatment, he added, while describing the condition of at least three injured victims as serious.

Attack on FC camp foiled as two suicide bombers killed; Hizbul Ahrar claims responsibility

“The remains of the suicide victims were found some 100 yards from the blast site on the main airport road,” said Arshad Butt, a photojournalist who rushed to the site just after the explosion. The bomb disposal squad along with police investigation officials also reached the site and collected evidence.

After examining the site, Civil Defence Director General Aslam Tareen said: “Around 10 kilograms of explosive substance was used in the blast.” He added that the investigators also collected remaining parts of the motorbike used in the suicide bombing.

The bodies of the six Balochistan Constabulary personnel were shifted to the police lines for funeral after medico-legal formalities. The six soldiers, who lost their lives in the suicide attack, were identified as Karim Bakhsh, Ali Nawaz, Abdul Hameed, Rasheed Ahmed and Nazar Mohammad.

Just half an hour earlier, two suicide bombers had attempted to enter the FC camp in Mian Ghundi area on the outskirts of Quetta.

Sources said that they opened fire on FC personnel at a checkpoint and the camp. The FC men took position and returned fire. In an ensuing exchange of fire, which continued for half an hour, both suicide attackers were gunned down. “The FC foiled their attempt to enter the FC camp and killed both the suicide attackers,” said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement released to the media.

Two powerful blasts were heard in the area during the shootout, as both attackers blew up their suicide jackets after being wounded by the security personnel.

The ISPR also confirmed that eight FC personnel were wounded in the exchange of fire. The security forces later rushed them to the Combined Military Hospital, Quetta.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2018