PESHAWAR – At leas 23 persons including DSP Peshawar Gulfat Hussain and Senior leader of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Haji Dost Mohammad Khan were killed while 27 others were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the JI rally in Qissa Khawani Bazaar here on Monday.
Eyewitness and police sources said that the suicide bomber blew himself up after reaching near DSP Gulfat Hussain. It could not be confirmed that whether the target was the rally of JI or DSP Gulfat Hussain, However, the intensity of the blast was so severe, as it was heard across the city while the body parts of the killed and injured were found few meters away from the blast’s site. The blast also damaged several vehicles and nearby shops.
Soon after the blast the rescuers rushed to the site and contributed in the rescue activities. The injured and dead bodies were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital while the people also contributed in the rescue activities.
Heavy contingent of police rushed to the site and cordoned off the area. IG Bomb Disposal Squad, Shafqat Malik informed that around six Kilograms explosive materials were used in the attack. He said that the leg and head of the suicide bomber were also recovered from the site.
Peshawar Police Chief Liaqat Ali Khan while briefing the journalists confirmed that it was suicide attack and said that the actual target of the bomber was DSP Gulfat Hussain, as the rally was concluding and the protesters already dispersed.
Meanwhile, Senior Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bashir Ahmad Bilour and Information Minister Mian Iftikhat Hussain strongly condemned the suicide attack and said that the terrorists would not be able to pressurise the Government through their mean tactics. They said that terrorists would be defeated at all cost and the war against them would be continued to its logical end.
Source: TheNation.com.pk