2 cops among 5 injured as police mobile van targeted with IED

PESHAWAR: Five persons, including two cops, were wounded in a bomb attack on a police car on Warsak Road here on Friday.

“The blast damaged the police car that was patrolling the area. And an assistant sub-inspector, driver of the van and three passers-by were injured in the attack,” said a police official, adding the injured were taken to hospital.

Heavy contingents of police cordoned off the area after the blast and a search operation was launched in the vicinity.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Operations, Kashif Zulfiqar and other officials reached the spot soon after the incident. Talking to reporters, the SSP said that the bomb disposal unit experts were examining the nature of the explosives used in the attack.

Officials said around five kilograms of explosives were used in the improvised explosive device that was planted on the roadside in a concrete block. The attacks on police in the provincial capital have intensified in the last few days.

The Mathra Police Station and its Ashab Baba post in the provincial capital were attacked with grenades a day earlier. However, no casualty was reported in both incidents.

Last week, a police car was targetted with an IED on the same Warsak Road but the cops remained unharmed.

Reports said that around 10 kilograms of explosives were used in the IED but the bomb was detonated partially due to technical fault that reduced its impact.

Attacks on police and security forces have witnessed an increase in many districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially in southern districts, for the last three years.