TARIQ SAEED PESHAWAR After a relative pause the terror revisited the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a terrorist attack on a Police check post followed by a suicide explosion believed to be carried out by a female bomber in District headquarters hospital D I Khan Sunday morning left over a dozen people dead and thirty others seriously wounded. Those killed include six men in uniform. Medics fear the death toll will go higher as the condition of many wounded persons was declared as precarious. Eight policemen are also among the wounded persons. The Dl Khan District Police Officer (DPO) Salim Riaz told newsmen that unidentified gunmen riding on four motorcycles opened fire on policemen at the Kotla Saidan check post in a residential area at approximately 7:45am on Sunday morning, martyring two policemen on the spot. The gun attack on the cops, as the Police authorities said, followed a suicide blast at theDHQ hospital where the victims of the gun attack were being shifted and several policemen were gathered there. The bomber struck at the entrance to the hospital, martyring four policemen and six civilians who were visiting their relatives. “At least 30 others were injured in the two incidents police said. A local forensics expert Inayatullah said a female attacker set off 7 kilograms of explosives packed with nails and ball-bearings. “The female bomber, aged around 28 years, came on foot and blew herself up martyring two policemen and four civilians, and wounding 13 others,” he said. The injured included at least eight policemen and five civilians. The blast damaged the emergency room, forcing it to be shut down, according to a hospital official, who said the wounded were then shifted to a military hospital. The defunct Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the responsibility of the Sunday attack targeting the Policemen. He, however, did not acknowledge that the bomber was a woman. According to a statement from TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khorasani, the attack was carried out in retaliation for the killing of a suspected terrorist by the Counter-Terrorism Department in DI Khan on June 23. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other political leaders have strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday. In a statement in Peshawar, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan reiterated that such cowardly acts cannot deter the government’s resolve against terrorism. He expressed sympathy with the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls and early recovery of injured in the incidents. Governor Shah Farman has strongly condemned Dera Ismail Khan Suicide blast and directed the concerned departments to reach on the spot and serve the needy and wounded people. Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Ali Amin Khan Gandapur who is also from D I Khan has strongly condemned Dera Ismail Khan blast and directed the concerned departments to reach on the spot and serve the needy and wounded people. He expressed sorrow and deep grief over the incident.
