Islamabad: At least one policeman was killed and six others injured early Friday after a suicide bomber exploded himself in a residential neighbourhood of Islamabad, officials said. The injured include four police officers and two civilians, law enforcement said.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) later claimed responsibility for the blast, saying the attack "on the enemies of Islam" was in retaliation for the recent killing of a senior member.
The group, which is separate from the Afghan Taliban but with a similar hardline Islamist ideology, called off a stop-start ceasefire with the government in November.
Police officials said that the bomber exploded himself when the police stopped the suspected vehicle for a snap inspection near Street 31 of the I-10/4 neighbourhood of Islamabad.
The police spotted a “suspicious vehicle” with a man and a woman at about 10:15 am. “When the police stopped the vehicle, the couple came out of the car. The man, while being checked by the officers, went inside the vehicle and then detonated himself,” the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Sohail Zafar Chattha told reporters.
He said that one police officer of the Eagle Squad was killed in the blast while four others were injured. Islamabad police identified the slain officer as police head constable Adeel Hussain. “We lost one police officer but Islamabad police averted a grave tragedy” by swiftly responding to the threat, the DIG said.
The bomb disposal team was called to investigate the scene and a cordon was put in place. All the injured were immediately taken to hospital for treatment.
