Terror attack: Blast on bus kills 7 near Kharian

At least 15 passengers were also injured in the attack.

KHARIAN:

Seven passengers – among them a woman and a child – were killed and another 15 wounded in an explosion inside a bus traveling from Kotla to this garrison town of Kharian in Punjab on Saturday.

The bombing came a day after scores of paramilitary cadets were killed in twin suicide bombings in the Shabqadar area of Cahrsadda district. The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack, saying it was in revenge for the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a covert US military operation in Abbottabad on May 2.

The blast occurred on the bus at 7:35 pm when it arrived near Chak Kamal village in the Sara-e-Alamgir area on Saturday.

According to initial reports, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the bus when it was approaching Kharian.

However, the district police officer said that it was not a suicide attack and that the bomb was planted on the bus. The bus and nearby fields caught fire after the explosion. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the bombing but the suspicion is on the Taliban who have vowed attacks in revenge for Bin Laden’s killing. Meanwhile President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the bomb blast on the passenger bus.

They also directed the authorities concerned to ensure the provision of best medical care to the injured.   (ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP)



Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2011.