ISLAMABAD: A policeman on Friday was martyred, and at least six people including four police personnel were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up after they were intercepted by the Eagle Squad of capital police.
According to the police and eyewitnesses, the Eagle Squad of capital police intercepted a suspected cab with a man and a woman sitting inside at Sector I-10/4 Islamabad near the family hospital.
As soon as the police personnel asked the man and woman to come out for a body search, the man exploded himself and the car (LEI-7793) as a result the attackers were killed on the spot, and a head constable was martyred, they said. The sound of the explosion created a wave of panic and fear among the residents living in the area. The sound of the explosion was heard till distant places and people came out of their houses in fear. The impact of the blast was strong that it broke glass windows of nearby buildings and cars parked in the area.
The wreckage of the vehicle and the body parts of the suicide bomber were seen scattered on the road.
A heavy contingent of police, a bomb disposal squad, and an ambulance rushed to the blast site and cordoned off the area. Police shifted the body of head constable Adeel Hussain Raja and others injured to the hospital. The BDS officials and forensic experts collected evidence from the blast site and post-blast fragments of the vehicles.
Sohail Zafar Chatta, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) while talking to the reporters at the blast site said that the patrolling eagle squad of the capital police spotted a suspected taxi car at 10:15 am in sector I-10/4 with a man and a woman aboard.
The police team stopped the vehicle and asked the man and woman to come out for a body search and search of the car, he said, adding that police conducted a body search of both when the boy having long hair went inside the vehicle on some pretext and then detonated himself.
He said that the police personnel by intercepting the car saved Islamabad from a big destruction.
Interior Minister Rana Sanullah said that two terrorists were killed in the blast. The vehicle used in the blast was registered in Chakwal. The car entered Islamabad from Rawalpindi which was packed with explosives and headed for a high-value target in the capital, he said.
An eyewitness said that the police team stopped the suspected car near the Family Hospital. When police reach the car the suicide bomber detonated himself, he said.
The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Soon after the blast police put security on high alert in the city and launched search operations in the area. In a tweet, the police said strict action will be taken against vehicles with “applied for” or fancy number plates, adding that no one will be allowed to carry arms.
Police also advised residents to carry documents of identification while traveling and to register their tenets and servants with police immediately.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022