Suicide attack on Peshawar police station leaves four dead

Policemen take position during a militant attack on a police station in Peshawar on February 24, 2012. PHOTO: AFP

PESHAWAR: In yet another brazen militant attack on a police station, three suicide bombers killed four policemen and injured another six during early hours of Friday.

Three suicide bombers barged into the C-Division police station (Kotwali Police Station), which is located in the heart of Peshawar city in a congested locality, with the intention of taking over.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigade has claimed responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Abu Zarar Said, speaking from an unknown location, said that the attack was a reaction to the killing of a top militant leader, Badar Mansoor, in a drone strike in Waziristan.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Imtiaz Altaf told reporters that the militants hurled hand grenades at the security men on the gates which triggered a crossfire.

He added that the policemen promptly responded to the attack and the bombers had “no other option left but to explode themselves.”

CCPO Altaf term the incident as a “backlash against the operations carried out by the security forces on the militant havens.”

The Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson told The Express Tribune that eight injured were brought to the hospital, out of which two expired at the hospital.

The deceased were identified as Sub-Inspector Munawar, ASI Dawai and Constable Falak Naz.

MS LRH Rahim Jan Afridi told The Express Tribune that the condition of two of the injured admitted at the hospital is crticial.

Residents of the area told The Express Tribune that they had heard three minor blasts followed by a huge explosion. Immediately after the incident, intense firing engulfed the area and after sometime two major explosions took place.

The C-Division police station is one of the largest in the city. Home to hundreds of new recruits, it not only serves as barracks for the police personnel but also has an office of the Special Branch and other police officers including the residential quarters of the police attached to it.

The attack on the police station comes only a day after a car bomb attack left 13 dead and 37 injured at a bus stand on Kohat Road in Peshawar.

One injured in blast near Ring Road

In a separate incident, one person was injured when a bomb went off in the Afridi Garh area near Ring Road.

Initial reports stated that the bomb had been planted on the roadside near a police picket and had been detonated using a remote control.

Rescue officials and the Bomb Disposal Squad were dispatched to the site immediately after the incident.

The injured was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital.