At least two killed, eight injured after blast near police van in Wana

At least two people were killed and eight others, including two policemen, were injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast near a police van at Wana's Rusam Bazar in Lower South Waziristan on Thursday, police confirmed.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Imran Ullah said that following the incident, an emergency was declared at the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Wana to treat the injured.

Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to apprehend the suspects involved in the deadly attack.

The incident was reported just a day after an attack on Deputy Commissioner Waziristan Asmat Ullah Wazir’s vehicle, in which he was travelling with the Additional Deputy Commissioner. However, both remained safe in the incident. 

Read: 'Indian-sponsored' suicide attack martyrs 13 soldiers in North Waziristan

Following the incident, spokesperson of the South Waziristan police, Shoaib Mehsud, said that the incident occurred in upper Waziristan’s Ladha area where unknown armed individuals attacked Asmat Ullah’s vehicle when he was travelling to Makeen. Resultantly, two police constables sustained wounds. 

In another incident on the same day in the Garagri area of Karak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, terrorists had targeted the security forces, where unknown armed men opened fire at their vehicle, leaving three Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel martyred.  

Separately, a Pakistani Army major and two soldiers were martyred in an attack of “Fitna al-Hindustan” in Balochistan’s Mastung district on Wednesday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) department of the Pakistan military confirmed the incident and said terrorists belonging to an Indian proxy attacked a security forces’ vehicle with an improvised explosive device (IED) between the night of 5 and 6 August. 

Read: Security forces kill 30 Indian-backed terrorists in North Waziristan

The martyred personnel were identified as Major Muhammad Rizwan Tahir, Naik Ibni Amin and Lance Naik Muhammad Younas.

According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), at least 78 militant attacks were reported across the country during the month, resulting in at least 100 deaths, including 53 security personnel and 39 civilians.

In incidents, six militants and two members of the local peace committee were also killed.