A suicide blast in Pakistan's capital Islamabad has killed one policeman and left several others, including police officers, injured, the Dawn reported. The blast took place in Islamabad's I-10/4 sector. The Islamabad Police has tweeted issuing an alert in the capital in the wake of the incident.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Sohail Zafar Chattha told the Dawn that the police spotted a “suspicious vehicle” with a man and a woman in the area at 10:15 am.
“When the police stopped the vehicle, the couple came out of the car. The long-haired man, while being checked by the officers, went inside the vehicle on some pretext and then detonated himself,” he said in a media briefing, as quoted by the publication.
Chattha said a police officer of the Eagle Squad was martyred in the blast while four others officers were injured. He lauded the police for “saving Islamabad from a major foul play”.
The Islamabad police identified the slain officer as Head Constable Adeel Hussain and tweeted his photograph.
The joint executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), Dr. Iqbal Durrani, told Dawn that two bodies and five injured policemen had been brought to the hospital.
In an interview with Geo News, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed that “two terrorists” were killed in the blast adding that the losses could have been more had the car reached its target.
Terror group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In another tweet, the police said that diversions had been placed for both sides of traffic at Service Road East of Sector I-10/4. It advised citizens to use Service Road West of Sector I-10/4 as an alternate and stay away from the blast site.
Soon after the blast, Islamabad police issued red alert for the region.