Bomb disposal officer among three killed in Pakistan blast

Peshawar — A roadside bomb on Monday killed a senior bomb disposal officer along with two other policemen in Pakistan's troubled northwest, police said.
Abdul Haq, 43, who had defused more than 60 bombs in his career, was headed to the suburb of Badhaber
in the city of Peshawar after being called out to deal with a device.He was on his way to defuse a bomb when his vehicle was hit by another bomb. Abdul Haq and a police driver were killed on spot Najeebur Rehman, a senior police official, told AFP, adding that a police constable wounded in the attack later died in hospital. TV channels later showed other bomb disposal officers defusing the device.
Shafqat Malik, bomb disposal chief for the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, praised Haq as one of his best and most professional operatives.We are losing our best officers. More than 10 officers of BDS (bomb disposal squad) have lost their lives while serving their motherland," Malik said.
Haq was made bomb disposal chief for Peshawar after his predecessor Hukam Khan was killed while defusing two bombs in the same area in September 2012.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have led a bloody campaign against the Pakistani state in recent years.They have carried out hundreds of attacks on security forces and government targets, mainly in the northwest.