Share this story!            

Cop killed in suicide attack on Special Branch office in Islamabad

* Constable praised for sacrificing life to stop attacker
* Rehman Malik siays attacker entered Islamabad before long march

By Fazal Sher

ISLAMABAD: A security official was killed and three others injured in a suicide bombing outside a police Special Branch office in Islamabad on Monday.

The attacker blew himself up when a constable stopped him from entering the office situated near Sitara Market in G7 at about 8pm, an official told Daily Times. Fasial Jan Khan was holding the attacker when he set the bomb off, he said.

The bombing destroyed the gate of the building and broke the windowpanes of nearby buildings. Contingents of rescuers and fire fighters arrived at the site and hospitals were put on alert. The injured were taken to the nearby Polyclinic Hospital.

Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said the attack was carried out by one of the suicide bombers who entered the capital just before the long march earlier this month.

“We had very authentic information that 15 to 20 Uzbeks suicide bombers were sent [to Islamabad] by Baitullah Mehsud following a meeting of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),” he told the media.

Officials said there was no protective fence or wall around the highly sensitive office and a witness said the attacker would have reached the building if the constable guarding the site had not kept hold of him.

“I salute this brave policeman for showing such an act of gallantry,” Rehman Malik said.

Asked why there had been no security mechanism in place despite reports of imminent suicide attacks, the adviser said law enforcement agencies had been put on high alert but “no mechanism has so far been developed anywhere in the world to preempt suicide bombing”.

Malik said he had formed a team to probe the incident.

Home | Main

Share this story!