Two cops among 11 injured in Mardan blast

MARDAN: At least 11 people, including two traffic policemen, were injured in an explosion triggered by a remote-controlled device at Shaheedano Bazaar in the city here Tuesday, police and local sources said. 

The sources added that the explosive device planted outside a shop in the busy Shaheedano Bazaar at Toru Chowk went off at about 8.00 am. The blast caused injuries to 11 civilians, including two traffic constables identified as Gul Karim and Abubakar, injured. The cops were performing duty when they were caught in the explosion.

Others injured were identified as Baz Mohammad, Abubakar, Farman Ali, Zafar, Yahya, Sher Wali, Mohammad Jamal, Asad and Shahid Mohammad.

The injured were shifted to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital and doctors said their condition was stable.

Following the explosion, police from the nearby Hoti Police Station and other areas cordoned off the area. The personnel of the Bomb Disposal Unit collected the pieces of evidence from the scene.

District Police Officer (DPO) Fasial Shahzad said some 700 to 800 grams of explosives were used in the blast. He believed the traffic police wardens were the target of the attackers.

Police soon afterwards launched a search operation in the surrounding areas but no arrests were made till filling this report.

Mardan, the second biggest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has suffered terrorists attacks in the past as well.

In December 2015 an office of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) located at the Dwasaro Chowk in the limits of City Police Station was targetted by a suicide bomber. As many as 25 people were killed and 54 injured in the devastating attack.

In April, this year the office of the Excise and Taxation Department, located on the Mall Road in the jurisdiction of the City Police Station, was targeted by a suicide bomber. Up to 16 people were injured in this act of terror.

In May, a suicide bomber targetted a police patrolling vehicle at the Kutchehri Chowk in the limits of the same police station. As many as 15 people, including four police constables were wounded in the attack.

Two traffic police wardens were injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast at the Akbar Patak (Railway crossing), in June.

The terror act was carried out again in the limits of the City Police Station. The site of the blast is located at a few meters from the house of former chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, who belongs to the Awami National Party and has been targetted in the past as well.