TIMERGARA: Four people, including a woman, were injured when a car they were boarding was hit by an improvised explosive device in Merakai area of restive Maidan here on Wednesday, residents and police said.

They said a non-custom paid cab was carrying passengers to Zaimdara from a far flung village in Maidan, the home town of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the chief of outlawed TNSM. The car was hit by an IED when it reached Merakai in the jurisdiction of Zaimdara police station.

The IED exploded with a bang, crating panic in the nearby areas, residents said.

They said the car was partially damaged.

Cab driver Toti Rehman, and passengers Shah Haidar, Ahmad Rehman and his wife were critically injured, and were shifted to a nearby hospital.

The security forces and police cordoned off the area and started a search operation.

DSP Amjad Khan told journalists that police were investigating the incident and the culprits would be arrested soon.