20 killed in Peshawar, Bannu, Gilgit blasts

[Naveed Yaseen]

ABDUL QADOOS
PESHAWAR (September 27 2009): Sixteen people were killed and 154 were injured in two bomb blasts in Bannu and the provincial metropolis Peshawar respectively on Saturday. Meanwhile, App adds: Two police personnel and two other persons were shot dead in different incidents of violence following a blast in a bookshop on Airport Road Gilgit here on Saturday, Home Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan said.

The Peshawar blast was the second largest explosion after the Pearl Continental Hotel incident of June 2. In the first incident, the terrorists targeted Mandan police station in district Bannu, which claimed the lives of six people, including a cop, personnel of Elite Force and three civilian passers-bye. The suspected suicide bomber and 60 others were injured.

According to reports, an explosive-laden Shazoor truck, which after coming under fire from the police, hit a barrier in front of the police station with a big bang, completely destroying the police station, which has now been shifted to a private building.

In the second strike, the terrorists targeted busy Fakhar-e-Alam Road of the Peshawar Cantonment. Muti-storey buildings, housing mostly financial institutions and car showrooms surround the road. The blast claimed 10 lives and inflicted injuries to 60 others. Majority of the victims were stated to be the visitors to the branch of Askari Commercial Bank Limited (ACBL).

The wounded persons were immediately rushed to four different health facilities, including Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Combined Military Hospital (CMH), General Hospital, Cantt Board, and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).

While six injured persons were released from the hospital after first aid, 88 injured are being provided medical treatment in the hospitals. The conditions of three injured were stated to be serious. The government has declared emergency in the hospitals of the provincial metropolis.

Meanwhile, NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, addressing a press conference, said the terrorists wanted to pressurise the government. However, he said that the security forces' action against the terrorists in Malakand division would continue till the elimination of the last terrorist.

He said that in Bannu suicide attack, 150 to 200-kilogram of explosives were used, while in Peshawar, 100-kilogram of explosive had been used. The Peshawar blast damaged 32 vehicles and about 52 shops. In Bannu, he said 60 police personnel and 30 civilians, who were reciting the Holy Qur'aan in a mosque, adjacent to the police station, were injured. Besides, some women and children, who were inside their houses, were injured.

The government agencies have started relief operation and were removing the debris of the destroyed police station. He said the provincial government had ordered investigation into both the incidents. According to initial investigation, he said a Shazoor truck along with a stolen car and a motorcycle Jani Khel, accompanied the truck till entry into the settled area.

Jani Khel, he said, was home to terrorist, where recently the students of Cadet College were kidnapped, who were later rescued. The police cop, who took position and exchange fire with the terrorists at Bannu, has been identified as Naeemullah, while the personnel of the Elite Force, who sacrificed his life was Suleman.

About Peshawar blast, he said that there is possibility of the use of remote control explosive device, as he said the terrorist first quit the vehicle and the blasted it. However, he said that the recovery of a head from the nearby building of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had created the impression of the suicide attack. He disclosed that two suspects had been arrested and further investigations were in progress.

APP adds: Two police personnel and two other persons were shot dead in different incidents of violence following a blast in a bookshop on Airport Road Gilgit here on Saturday, Home Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan said.

Two police personnel and two civilians are killed in violence, Home Secretary Cap Muhammad Usman confirmed. A blast of locally devised explosive went off in busiest market in Gilgit here today in which four people were injured, Police chief said. That was locally made device and it is too early to say how it went off said police Chief Khurshid Alam.

Four people were also injured in the blast and one of them breathed his last on bed of DHQ Hospital Gilgit. The infuriated and enraged protestors started pelting shops with stones and vandalising on roads as a group also got into an encounter with police. Some miscreants have fired on police too and one of the police personnel shot dead, Superintendent Ali Sher said.

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