4 cops injured in explosion in KP’s Lakki Marwat

LAKKI MARWAT: Four cops were injured in an explosion in the Serai Naurang town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district on Wednesday, according to police.

District police spokesperson Qudratullah Khan told Dawn that the explosion occurred on the busy Bannu-DI Khan Road near a fruit and vegetable market.

He said that according to initial information, the attackers targeted a police patrol party from the Shaheed Asmatullah Khan Khattak police station.

The spokesperson said Head Constable Waheedullah and Constables Syed Anwar, Hadiullah and Ikramullah were injured in the explosion.

He said that the van the police party had been patrolling in was also damaged in the explosion.

The exact nature and cause of the explosion are yet to be determined. Police have not commented on the nature of the explosion, but local residents attribute it to an explosive device, which they said was fitted on a motorcycle.

They also said that some shops and vehicles that were parked near the site of the incident had also been damaged in the explosion.

The incident took place around two weeks after an attack on a police vehicle in Lakki Marwat’s Bettani subdivision, in which seven cops, including an officer, were martyred.

According to police, an improvised explosive device was used in the incident to target a squad of the Shadikhel police station while it was on routine patrol.

Six policemen, including a station house officer and five constables, lost their lives in the incident.