A police bomb disposal officer was killed on Saturday, November 7, when an improvised explosive device (IED), a homemade bomb, went off as he tried to defuse it in Pakistan's north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said. The incident took place in the Sararogha area of Upper South Waziristan district.
What police said
District Police Officer Ashfaq Khan told local media that the assistant head of the squad was critically injured in the explosion and later died of his injuries. Police said the officer had already defused one IED planted in the area when another explosive device detonated as he attempted to neutralise it.
The account describes a sequence in which the first device was cleared safely, and the second one was the one that caused the fatal injuries.
Risks faced by bomb disposal teams
Bomb disposal officers are trained to approach and make explosives safe, but this incident shows that the danger does not end once one device has been dealt with. A second device can detonate during the same operation and injure or kill trained personnel. The death adds to the risks that police teams accept when they handle explosives in the region.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Upper South Waziristan mein Saturday ko police ke bomb disposal officer ek IED dhamake mein halak ho gaye, jab woh use defuse kar rahe thay. Police ke mutabiq unhon ne pehle ek IED nakara kar diya tha, lekin doosra dhamaka ho gaya. Aam logon ke liye yeh yaad dilata hai ke mushkoook cheezon se door rehna zaroori hai aur shak wali cheez ki itla police ko deni chahiye.
