PESHAWAR - A suicide car bomber targeting deputy commander Frontier Corps (FC) Brig Khalid Javed blew himself up on a busy road of the provincial capital on Tuesday, killing at least five people and wounding 13 others.
Brig Khalid Javed escaped unharmed in the attack.
Eyewitness and police said the blast occurred in the morning when suicide bomber detonated explosive-packed Alto car near FC convoy carrying Brig Khalid Javed and other personnel of the Frontier Corpse.
The high intensity blast resulted in killing of five people including a woman and an FC soldier. The blast also damaged a rickshaw and a motorbike and two other vehicles.
The intensity of the blast was so high that the body parts of the victims were also found from Cantonment Railway Station area.
Rescue 1122 and Edhi ambulances rushed to the blast site and started rescue activities. The injured and dead bodies were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar and Combined Military Hospital. Hospital sources said that five people were killed and 13 others injured.
The injured were identified as Anwar (39), Fazli Subhan (22), Imdad (30), Inayatullah, Lal Zada, M Rizwan, Noor Alam, Rizwanullah, Sajad Hussain, Zar Khan, Anwar and Fazli Subhan.
Those who were killed in the blast were identified as Mohammad Zahir Khan, Saba Gul and Zareen Afridi.
Soon after the tragic incident heavy contingent of police and security forces reached the blast site and cordoned off the area.
According to AIG bomb disposal squad around 45 kilogram explosive material was used in the attack.
Though several CCTV cameras have been installed near Peshawar Press Club boundary wall but the position of the CCTV cameras were altogether different to cover the blast site.
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Peshawar Ijaz Khan told media persons that target of the attack was Brigadier Khalid Javed but fortunately the brigadier remained safe while the dead people included a woman, an FC personnel and a passerby.
The CCPO added that the blast could be a reaction to the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan.
He said for a long time the situation had been normal but now it seemed that reaction against the said operation had started. He added that all the vehicles would be checked to ensure law and order in the city.
Meanwhile, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack and announced to carry out revenge attacks against Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government for the ongoing military operation.
Talking to a foreign news agency Shahidullah Shahid said the attack was carried out by the TTP against the government’s brutality in Fata. “We are still active as we have been in the past and will show our might to PML-N as we showed to the ANP,” he added.
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Parvez Khattak, Governor KP Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani, Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Asad Qaiser strongly condemned the suicide blast and termed it a heinous act of terrorism of the anti-state elements. They said those who were playing with lives of the innocent people did not deserve any concession.
They visited Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar and inquired after the health of the injured. They directed hospital authorities to provide best possible treatment to the victims. The chief minister also announced compensation of Rs 500,000 for each martyred person and Rs 200,000 for each injured.
Agencies add: The blast also wounded 29 others, police said.
The bombing in Peshawar took place as the deputy commander of the paramilitary Frontier Corps Brig Khalid Javed was driving along a busy road in a convoy, city police chief Ijaz Ahmed said.
He said one of the soldiers and four bystanders were killed.