Bomber Hits Pakistan Police Protecting Polio Teams, 3 Dead

People shift a victim, who was injured in a bomb blast, to get medical treatment in a local hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, Pakistan, 30 November 2022.EPA/JAMAL TARAQAI
People shift a victim, who was injured in a bomb blast, to get medical treatment in a local hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, Pakistan, 30 November 2022.EPA/JAMAL TARAQAI
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Bomber Hits Pakistan Police Protecting Polio Teams, 3 Dead

People shift a victim, who was injured in a bomb blast, to get medical treatment in a local hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, Pakistan, 30 November 2022.EPA/JAMAL TARAQAI
People shift a victim, who was injured in a bomb blast, to get medical treatment in a local hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, Pakistan, 30 November 2022.EPA/JAMAL TARAQAI

A suicide bomber blew himself up near a truck carrying police officers on their way to protect polio workers near Quetta Wednesday, killing a police officer and two civilians. The bombing also wounded 23 others, mostly policemen, officials said.

Ghulam Azfer Mehser, a senior police officer, said the attack happened as the policemen were heading to the polio workers, part of a nationwide vaccination drive launched Monday.

The blast was so powerful that it toppled the truck carrying police officers into a ravine, he said, adding that the bombing also damaged a nearby car carrying members of a family.

He said that the anti-polio campaign will continue even after the bombing.

Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other officials in separate statements condemned the attack.



Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

Iran's police force has dismissed the commander of a city in the northern province of Gilan after the death in custody of a detainee, state media said on Saturday.

Mohammad Mir Mousavi, 36, was arrested on July 22 after being involved in a fight in Lahijan, police said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

"The police commander... was dismissed due to insufficient oversight of the conduct and behaviour of staff," the police said, AFP reported.

"Due to the complexity of the matter, the final conclusion on the cause of Mohammad Mir Mousavi's death depends on the medical examiner's final report.

The police said the station commander and several officers involved in the incident had been suspended.

"The behaviour of some law enforcement officers was against the professional policy of the police and that is not acceptable in any way, so they were referred to the judicial authority," the statement added.

The Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization, Hengaw, on Wednesday said Mir Mousavi "was killed under torture in the detention center".

On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation into the case.

Dismissals of members of the security forces are rare in Iran.

In 2022, the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women, sparked months of deadly nationwide protests.