PESHAWAR: The provincial capital was struck by terrorists for the third time in the last eight days as at least 41 persons, including seven women, were killed and 91 were injured when a powerful car bomb ripped through the historic Qissa Khawani Bazaar near the Khan Raziq police station on Sunday.
Among those killed were 17 members of the ill-fated family of Sartaj of Matta Mughalkhel village in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda district. They were on their way in a pick up van to invite their relatives in Peshawar to two family weddings in their village on October 6 and 20.
Experts of the bomb disposal unit (BDU) said up to 220 kilograms of explosives were packed in the car in a way that the vehicle was converted into a bomb. The experts said phosphorus was used in the explosives to make it lethal.
“Over 200 kilograms of explosives were planted in the car that was parked under an electricity transformer, which caused a fire after the explosion,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Peshawar Najibur Rahman told The News. He said the bomb was triggered with a remote control device.
As the bomb went off at around 11am, a number of nearby vehicles caught fire, including the pick up truck that was carrying mostly women and children from Shabqadar.
The ambulances of Rescue 1122, Edhi and the Al-Khidmat Foundation rushed to the spot to take the victims to the nearby Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) as the police cordoned off the area to keep people away as there was concern that a second blast could take place. Eyewitnesses said the people in the bazaar began the rescue work and transferred the injured to the hospital before help could arrive from the government and humanitarian organisations.
The blast was so powerful that besides blowing the ill-fated vehicle carrying the party from Shabqadar into pieces, around 30 nearby shops were destroyed. Dozens of other shops, the Khan Raziq police station, a nearby mosque and a hotel were also partially damaged. Eight cars and auto-rickshaws and two motorbikes were also destroyed.
A source said there were intelligence reports since Friday that two explosives-laden vehicles had been prepared by the militants from across the border to hit targets in Pakistan.There were reports of a second blast after the first explosion. However, later it became clear that the second explosion was that of the cylinder of an auto-rickshaw.
Many people were trapped under the rubble of the shops while others were crying inside their vehicles when caught by the powerful explosion in the crowded bazaar.“Eighteen of us were on our way to visit our relatives in Kohati to invite them to the wedding of Dilraj, son of Sartaj, on October 20. When we reached Qissa Khawani, something happened with a deafening sound and our vehicle first flew in the air for some time and then caught fire after receiving an electric shock from the high-transmission power line,” recalled Sumbul, who suffered critical injuries due to the blast, fire and electrocution.
Sartaj said he lost his wife, daughters, grandchildren, daughter-in-law, nephews, nieces — almost the entire family. “Nothing is left of my family,” said the elderly man who was crying inconsolably at the LRH.
Sartaj’s wife Anwara (the mother of the bridegroom Dilraj), his daughter Maryam, his son Junaid Shah, one of his daughter-in-laws Sadia and her two young children, Junaid and Hammad, his niece Meena and her two children and a nephew were killed in the explosion. Three girls Sumbul, Haleema and Rabihat, were wounded. The driver of the van Bahar Ali was also among those killed.
The Matta Mughalkhel village was in a state of shock and mourning where people remained busy throughout Sunday to dig 17 graves. Hundreds of people from the nearby villages rushed to Matta Mughalkhel to offer condolences and console the family. They also helped the villagers to shift the bodies from the hospital, dig graves and arrange the funerals.
Those killed in the blast were identified as Afshan, Meena, Anwara, Sadia, Mumlikata, Maryam, Adnan, Amin Shahzad, Attaullah, Aurangzeb, Aziz Khan, Azizuddin, Bahar Gul, Daud, Fazle Khuda, Habibur Rahman, Jamal, Junaid Shah, Khalid, Khalida, Mian Faheem, Mausam Khan, Azad Khan, Waris Khan, Tayyab, Tasleem, Safeer, Rizwan, Raza Hussain, Qaisar Khan, Uzair, Noor Mohammad, Nasim, Nasrullah and Najibullah. Among the dead were two persons belonging to Chitral and some Afghan refugees.
Apart from the loss of lives, goods worth millions of rupees were destroyed or reduced to ashes in the fire in the nearby shops and markets. Politicians who visited the site of the blast included Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, senior minister Sikandar Sherpao, ANP MNA from Peshawar Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and MNA of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Ayesha Gulalai.
Many criticised the PTI leaders for their absence and appreciated the young Ayesha Gulalai at the same time for appearing at the site of the terrorist attack. Later, Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai paid a visit to the LRH to inquire about the injured and oversee the treatment being provided to them.
Meanwhile, the official death toll in the Qissa Khawani blast was corrected as 39 as one Sohrab who was declared dead was found alive and was rushed back to the LRH for treatment.
Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police Nasir Durrani chaired a high-level meeting of the officers of the Peshawar Police. He directed that security in Peshawar be enhanced and the cops to remain vigilant. The IGP directed that sensitive areas be swept with the help of sniffing dogs and explosive detectors so that terrorist attacks can be pre-empted and countered.
Meanwhile, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was quick to deny its involvement in the car bombing. Its central spokesman Shahidullah Shahid phoned reporters from an undisclosed location to clarify that the TTP had no hand in the bombing in which 41 people were killed.
It was unusual for the TTP to issue a statement in such haste.Intelligence sources said the TTP specialised in carrying out suicide bombings and organising spectacular attacks on important targets to take hostages. They felt there could be a foreign hand in the Qissa Khawani bombing as foreigners usually hired Afghans to carry out such attacks using explosives-filled vehicles.
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