5 people, including 2 cops, injured in grenade attack in Quetta

Five people, including two policemen, were injured on Wednesday in a hand grenade attack on Quetta’s Joint Road, hospital officials said.

Quetta Civil Hospital spokesperson Dr Waseem Baig told Dawn.com that the injured, which included a woman and two police officials, were brought to the hospital.

He said that the injured were being provided medical attention, adding that they were “out of danger”.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Captain (retired) Zohaib Mohsin said that initially an exchange of fire had taken place between police and unknown miscreants, after which the latter hurled a hand grenade and fled from the scene.

He visited the site of the incident and sought a briefing from the station house officer of the relevant police station.

The SSP said that in light of Independence Day, security in the city was on “high alert”. He said that police officials in plainclothes had also been deployed across the city for surveillance purposes.

On Monday, at least seven people, including a newly elected Union Council chairman, were killed in an explosion in Balochistan’s Panjgur district.

Mohammad Ishaq, the Balga­tar UC chairman, was returning to his village along with six other people after attending a wedding when his vehicle was targeted by a roadside bomb at Chakar Bazaar in the border area of Turbat and Panjgur districts.

Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove confirmed to Dawn that Ishaq’s vehicle was targeted using a “powerful landmine”. A senior police official said the vehicle was badly damaged and all seven people died on the spot.