At least three people were killed and 16 others injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast on Quetta’s Eastern Bypass area on Tuesday evening, police said. Quetta DIG Abdul Razzaq Cheema confirmed the incident and said that unidentified miscreants had planted the explosive device in a motorcycle and parked it outside a medical store. The injured were rushed to Civil Hospital Quetta and an emergency was declared in the hospital. Cheema said that two victims of the blast succumbed to their injuries on their way to the hospital. The third one reportedly died during treatment. He added that all the injured were civilians. He said that the culprits and motives behind the attack were yet to be ascertained. Police and other law enforcement agencies personnel reached the sport and an investigation was underway. A total of 119 people – including 15 police personnel – were killed and 114 injured in terrorism-related incidents in Balochistan during 2018. As many as 25 terrorists were killed in encounters and 55 arrested in 1,245 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in the province. Hardcore terrorist, his two accomplices killed in Balochistan Meanwhile, in a major achievement in the war against terrorism, a hardcore terrorist namely Shaikh Muhammad Mumtaz alias Naseem Firaun and his two accomplices were killed during a shootout with law enforcement agencies in Balochistan on Tuesday. The law enforcement agencies, on a tip, conducted operation in Panjgur area of Balochistan and during the exchange of fires, all the three terrorists were killed, said sources. The other two militants were identified as Hanzala and Sameer. A huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosive material were recovered from their possession, the sources said. According to the information received, Shaikh Muhammad Mumtaz was involved in dozens of targeted killings, attacks on police, extortion and other heinous crimes. Eight members of the gang had already been arrested from different cities, said the sources. Firaun was also involved in killing of two policemen of the Sindh Reserve Police (SRP) in the Orangi Town area in June 2019. He had been arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in 2013 and the militant had managed to escape from the Judicial Complex of Central Prison Karachi in June 2017. In June 2017, two militants involved in multiple terrorism acts had escaped from Karachi’s Central Prison. Firaun and Muhammad Ahmed Khan alias Munna are said to be associated with Naeem Bukhari group of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, had escaped from Karachi’s Central Jail. The escape of the two high-profile under-trial prisoners had raised serious concerns about the security of the prison, which housed a large number of hardened criminals, including terrorists.