Tariq Saeed Peshawar
A middle intensity bomb blast ripping through a busiest bazaar in the provincial metropolis Sunday afternoon left as many as two people dead and an equal number of others seriously wounded. Doctors have described the condition of a victim as critical.
The senior Police officials, however, said it was yet to be ascertained if it was a suicide explosion or the explosive device went off at the busiest Board Bazar on Nasir Bagh road during transportation to another area by the terrorists riding on a motorcycle. “An explosion took place during the transfer of explosives.
Three people were transporting the explosives of which two of them were killed in the blast and one of them sustained injuries”.
Senior Superintendent of Police Operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi told newsmen quoting the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU).
He said the Police have also recovered a mutilated body and our bomb disposal unit is investigating the area. We are trying to ascertain if it was a suicide blast or the bomb was planted on a motorcycle”. The SSP Operations said. It was reported that the blast was caused by 4-5kg of explosives.
The rescue teams rushed to the site of the blast and shifted the victims to nearby Khyber Teaching hospital where medics pronounced two people dead while a couple of others were admitted for treatment with the condition of the one wounded person described as critical. Officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) carried out the investigation into the incident as the Police cordoned off the area.
The police in its preliminary report on the blast said the dead and injured were terrorists and no citizen was harmed adding militants have been identified and they belonged to Peshawar claiming that they were wanted by the CTD.
The subversive activities and blast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with particular reference to Provincial Metropolis Peshawar have been on the rise during the last couple of years and according to statistics of the Home and Tribal department total of 1,050 incidents of terrorism took place in KP alone in the last year with 419 incidents of terrorism took place in the arranged districts, 631 incidents in the merged districts.
A total of 61 incidents of terrorism took place in Peshawar last year and the highest 201 incidents of terrorism occurred in North Waziristan besides 169 incidents took place in Khyber, 121 in South Waziristan, 98 in Dera Ismail Khan, 62 in Bajaur and 61 in Tank respectively.
During these incidents of terrorism, 470 security personnel and civilians have been martyrs in KP alone the previous year, including 106 security personnel in Peshawar with 4 security personnel killed in the Bajaur incident, 28 in Khyber, 36 in North Waziristan and 29 in South Waziristan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur have strongly condemned the “terrorist attack” and offered their condolences to the families.
The Premier has issued directives to provide all possible medical assistance to the injured. He said that he was determined to eradicate terrorism while KP Chief Minister has asked the inspector general (IG) to provide a report to him about the blast shortly.
