Three killed in IED blast targetting police van in Mardan

• Rescue teams, police and security forces rush to site of explosion.
• Police say IED went off when law enforcers' van passed by.
• Rickshaw present near by hit by bomb explosion. 

MARDAN: At least three people were killed and seven others injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near a police van adjacent to Jalala bridge in the Takhtbhai area of Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Friday. 

Rescue teams, police and security forces immediately reached the site following the blast and shifted the injured to a nearby hospital. 

As per details, nearly 11 people were injured when the blast occurred. The wounded were rushed to the hospital, where three of them succumbed to their injuries. 

Mardan District Police Officer (DPO) Zahoor Barbar Afridi confirmed the number of casualties of the bomb blast that targeted police. He said that two cops travelling in the van were among the injured.  

The official said that the explosive material was planted by the road, which blew off as soon as the law enforcers' van passed by.

He said that a rickshaw present nearby was hit by the blast. One of the deceased was a passenger of this rickshaw, he added. 

The DPO further stated that a search operation was launched after cordoning off the area. 

On Wednesday, at least five people, including former senator Hidayat Ullah, were killed in a "remote-controlled" bomb explosion targeting a vehicle in KP's Bajur district.

Hidayat, who was a former independent senator from erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), was killed in the bomb explosion along with four others. 

Police had said that the incident took place in Bajaur’s Damadola village where the former senator's vehicle was targeted via a remote-controlled device, 

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in militant attacks, especially in KP and Balochistan, since the banned outfit, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) put the truce with Islamabad to an end. 

However, no group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack yet.

In order to turn up the heat on militants, the federal government last month approved the launching of a counter-terrorism operation on the National Action Plan's Central Apex Committee's recommendations. 

Taking notice of the incident, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi condemned the explosion and expressed sorrow over the loss of two lives in the blast.

He extended sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed for the highest place of the victims in eternal peace and speedy recovery of the injured.