Friday’s blast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan district claimed three lives and injured seven more after a remote-controlled explosive device hidden on a bridge detonated, according to police officials.
Asserting that “unidentified terrorists” set the explosive close to the Jalala bridge in the Takhtbhai neighborhood and exploded it as the police van was passing by, Sadar Superintendent of Police (SP) Khalid Khan confirmed the injuries to Dawn.com.
According to him, the explosion damaged a police car and a rickshaw, leaving three persons inside the latter dead and seven others—including two police officers—injured.
According to SP Khan, after being warned, a sizable police detachment arrived at the location and began a search and rescue operation. Meanwhile, injured police officials were sent to the Mardan Medical Complex and the wounded patients were transported to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Takhtbhai.
According to Dawn.com, Mardan District Police Officer Zahoor Barbar Afridi stated that a remote control was used to trigger the explosion.
Mohsin Naqvi, the interior minister, denounced the explosion in a statement posted on social media site X. Naqvi also offered the victims his sympathy.
Additionally, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi denounced the incident and expressed sympathy to the families of the victims.
Amir Muqam, the federal minister for Kashmir affairs and an engineer in Gilgit-Baltistan, too expressed regret and denounced the act.
An improvised explosive device (IED) that went off close to a car transporting security guards to the Iskalku region of Kalat district earlier this week resulted in the martyrdom of one security official and the injury of four more.
On the way to Iskalku, where guard posts had been erected to protect a petroleum company’s oil and gas exploration site, the vehicle was struck.
There has been a notable increase in terror-related occurrences in Pakistan, especially since the TTP, a proscribed militant group, broke their cease-fire with the government in November 2022 and started attacking security officers.
The Apex Committee of the National Action Plan stated last month that Operation Azm-e-Istehkam (Resolve for Stability) had been launched to drive out extremism and terrorism from the nation in response to the surge in terrorist acts.
