Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Parveiz Rashid said on Saturday that an attempt to attack the stadium on Friday was foiled by the police official, who lost his life while trying to stop a suicide bomber near Kalma Chowk, adding that six people were wounded in the incident, Dawn reported.
Rashid praised the Pakistan Broadcasters Association for “covering up” the news while the cricket match was going on so as not to spread panic as there were over 20,000 spectators in the stadium. The media had at first reported an explosion close to the ground but reports were taken off air after it was asserted that the explosion was caused by an electricity transformer.
Later, the provincial inspector general of operations said two people — Sub-Inspector Abdul Majeed and a civilian Rizwan — were killed in the blast. He added that the blast happened in a rickshaw and that forensic samples had been collected from the site to determine the nature of the explosion. The blast occurred at 9 p.m. when the day-night match was under way. The match continued uninterrupted and was won by Pakistan, who sealed the series 2-0.
The incident took place beside a checkpost for public entry to the ground, near the outermost ring of the three-tier security at Nishtar Park complex on Ferozpur road, about 800 metres from the stadium. The blast was audible to those in the ground and even inside the enclosed press box. After the blast, paramilitary forces guarding the first layer cordoned off the area. Within 30 minutes, the entire area in a radius of two km was locked down and closed for general traffic....More
0 comments:
Post a Comment