ISLAMABAD, Jul 30 (NNN-APP) – A policeman was killed and two others, including a passerby and a policeman, were injured, when an explosion hit a police van in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province today, police said.
The incident happened in the busy Karkhano Market, of the provincial capital Peshawar, where some unknown militants targeted the police vehicle, Capital City Police Officer of Peshawar, Abbas Ahsan told media, after inspecting the site.
He said, further investigation is underway, but apparently the blast hit the people sitting in front of the police van, when it was on its routine patrolling in the city.
Earlier, a rescue organisation, Edhi Foundation, which shifted the injured to hospital, as well as a police statement said, the cops were targeted when they were launching an operation in the market, to ensure compliance with COVID-19 related guidelines.
Sher Gul from the Edhi Foundation in the province, said that, a shopkeeper was being shifted to a police station, when the attack was launched.
Station House Officer of Hayatabad area of the city, Imtiaz Khan, where the market is located, said that, operation to ensure the guidelines, was also underway in the market by another police party, but the attack was launched at the police, who patrol around the area, at almost the same time every day.
He said that initial investigation suggested that the militants hurled a hand grenade at the moving vehicle before fleeing the scene.
A search operation is underway in the area, to nab the fleeing militants, while further investigation is underway at the site, which has been sealed by the investigation teams, he added.
The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital where the passerby was discharged after first aid, whereas the policeman is in a critical condition, hospital sources said.
Chief Minister of the province, Mahmood Khan, condemned the attack and said that the militants cannot deter the resolve of “our forces against the menace of anti-state activities,” the chief minister’s office said in a statement.– NNN-APP
