Mohmand Bombing: Qazi Hussain escapes suicide attack

Qazi blames India and United States for the attack, saying that Muslims can never conduct such terrorist acts.

SHABQADAR:

Former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Qazi Hussain Ahmad had a narrow escape on Monday when a woman suicide bomber blew herself up near his motorcade in the Mohmand tribal region.

“At least three workers of Jamaat-e-Islami were wounded in the suicide attack that took place in the Ghaiba Khwar area of Haleemzai tehsil,” Political Agent Mohmand Adil Saddiq said.



According to an eyewitness, he saw a woman sitting at a roadside who seemed to be going to Afghanistan via Khapakh. “She detonated the explosive strapped to her body when the convoy arrived there,” he added.

Jamsheed Khan, the assistant political agent for Upper Mohmand, confirmed the incident and said “pieces of female clothes and hair found from the site make us believe that the attacker was a woman”.

“Fortunately, the bomber did not succeed in hitting her target,” Khan told The Express Tribune. He said security forces have detained two Afghan suspects in a search operation after the attack.

Medical Superintendent at the Ghallanai Headquarters Hospital Dr Jehangir identified the three injured as Shoaib and two guards Sher Zaman and Abdullah. “They are now in stable condition,” he added.

Qazi was in Mohmand Agency to inaugurate a Markaz-i-Islami. The event was not postponed despite the suicide attack. Speaking on the occasion, Qazi blamed India and the United States for the attack, saying that Muslims could never conduct such terrorist acts.

He also accused the US, India and Israel for the insurgency in the region and said, “In my view, all bomb blasts and other insurgency-related acts are the result of the government’s policy of joining the US-led war against terror,” he said.

He said the PPP-led government continued to follow the policies of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. He advised the government to pull out from the so-called war on terror.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2012.