QUETTA: Three policemen were injured in a bomb blast targeting a police patrol vehicle in the Qambrani Road area here on Wednesday. Sources said some unidentified armed miscreants targeted a police mobile vehicle which was on routine patrolling through a remote-controlled bomb. The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was planted on roadside and detonated when the police vehicle passed by. The blast shook the entire area and wounded at least three police personnel. The injured were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Quetta, for treatment. The blast also smashed windows of nearby shops and houses in the area. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) reached the spot and said that 2-3 kg explosive was used in the explosion. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. —INP APP adds: Five personnel of Levies force were injured by armed robbers at the Chaman’s Bypass area of Killa Abdullah district on Wednesday. Assistant Commissioner (AC) Chaman Hafiz Muhammad Qasim told APP that when the Levies force signaled a suspected motorbike for checking, armed robbers opened fire at them. As a result, three personnel of the Levies force, including Abdul Ali Bacha Khan and Shah Ghazi, received wounds. The AC added that after the incident, the Levies personnel were chasing the armed men in a vehicle which overturned due to overspeeding leaving two Levies personnel namely Hawaldar Muhammad Asghar and Nematullah injured. The armed robbers snatched a car from a citizen on the National Highway at gunpoint and fled, Leviesbike and fled away, Levies force said.AC Hafi Muhammad Qasim noted that the Levies force cordoned off the entire area and launched operation to trace out armed robbers. Sabah adds: Around 22 bus passengers, traveling from Karachi to Gwadar, were abducted and looted in Pasni tehsil of Balochistan’s Gwadar district on Wednesday.The passengers were held hostage and released after Frontier Corps and intelligence agencies exerted pressure on the captors. Commissioner Makran Division Bashir Bangulzai told private TV, “The passengers were trying to enter Iran illegally.” He said the passengers who were from various parts of Pakistan were illegal immigrants traveling from Karachi to Gwadar via Pasni. When security agencies came to know the passengers had been abducted, they launched an operation against the captors, subsequently mounting pressure on them to release the passengers.Bangulzai confirmed the abductors freed the passengers after looting them.“An operation has also been launched to apprehend human smugglers,” Bangulzai said.
