Policeman martyred in suicide blast in Islamabad’s I-10: police

A policeman was martyred and at least six people — including four police officers and two civilians — were injured in a suicide blast in Islamabad’s 1-10/4 sector on Friday, police officials said.

Television footage showed the fiery wreckage of a vehicle with a large number of police personnel at the scene.

According to Deputy Inspector General of Police Sohail Zafar Chattha, the police spotted a “suspicious vehicle” with a man and a woman aboard at 10:15am in the area.

“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 on some pretext and then detonated himself,” he said in a media briefing at the crime scene.

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 officer added that the injured persons had been moved to a nearby hospital.

Later in a tweet, the Islamabad police identified the slain officer as Head Constable Adeel Hussain. It said that terrorists had been targeting police for some time to demoralise law enforcement personnel.

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.