At least 25 people have been injured due to an explosion near the Ganj Mandi police station in Pakistan's Rawalpindi division on Sunday.
While initial reports by the locals suggest that the act was committed using a hand grenade, City Police Officer (CPO, Rawalpindi) Mohammad Ahsan Younas refused to officially ascertain the cause of the blast, saying that it was too soon to do so.
According to reports by Dawn News, the area was cordoned off post the blast and counter-terrorism department officials, as well as forensic experts arrived on ground to commence with their respective investigations. According to local media reports, 22 people have been shifted to a nearby hospital while three were provided first aid at the scene.
This marks the second attack in Pakistan's Rawalpindi Division in the past ten days. A similar incident had occurred on December 4, leaving several injured, and causing one fatality.
Rawalpindi police spokesman Sajjad ul Hassan told Agence France-Presse that one person had died and seven others were wounded. He added that the attack was committed using a timed device, which had been planted near a bus terminal. Dawn News had reported that the attack was "carried out using an improvised explosive device with ball bearings and containing one kilogramme of explosive material."
While no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, the local police informed that it was probing all angles, including the possibility of terrorism.
The blast on Sunday also marks the second bomb blast in Rawalpindi since 2015, which also marks the year the Indian army intensified a crackdown on militants.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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