MARDAN: A traffic police constable was injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast near the residence of Awami National Party provincial chief and former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti in the limits of City Police Station on Thursday morning, the police and local sources said. The device went off at about 7:30am at Akbar Phattak, injuring Constable Irshad Ali who was on duty. District Police Officer (DPO) Faisal Shahzad said that about 300 grammes of explosives were used in the blast. He said the bomb was concealed in a shopping bag planted near the road. The residence of former chief minister and ANP provincial president Ameer Haider Hoti is also located a few meters from the blast scene. Following the explosion, the police cordoned off the area and personnel of the Bomb Disposal Unit collected pieces of evidence from the scene. The police mounted a search operation in the surrounding areas but no arrest was made. Awami National Party (ANP) city district president Peshawar Malik Ghulam Mustafa, General Secretary Sartaj Khan and cabinet members on Thursday strongly condemned the bomb blast near former Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Amir Haider Khan Hoti’s home. In a statement issued here from Bacha Khan Markaz, they said the provincial government had failed to maintain law and order in the province, adding that incidents of target killing, bomb blasts and other crimes endorse the failure of the PTI-led provincial government. They expressed ANP’s resolve to continue the fight against militancy and terrorism.
