GHALLANAI: Seven people were killed and two injured in twin bomb attacks on peace militia volunteers in the Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency Friday evening.
The first improvised explosive device (IED) planted by the roadside was detonated when two volunteers of a peace committee drove past on a motorcycle in the Chinari area, an official in the Upper Mohmand political administration told the media. The volunteers – identified as Mussawar and Nazeer – were critically wounded.
When the injured were being shifted to a nearby coach, a second IED went off, killing Mussawar, Nazeer and five others, including coach driver Akhtar Gul, Muswair Vilayat Khan and Ali Saeed. Mussawar, Nazeer are said to be relatives of peace committee leader Darya Khan.
Two persons were also injured who were shifted to Nawagai and Ghallanai hospitals where medics said their wounds were not life threatening. Security officials cordoned off the area and mounted a manhunt for the perpetrators. However, there were no reports of arrests till the filing of this report.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Jamaatul Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack. “It was carried out to avenge the tyranny and humiliation enforced upon oppressed Muslims by these thugs,” the group’s spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said in a statement emailed to the media. He claimed that the victims included a son and a nephew of peace committee leader Malik Darya Khan.
Peace committees in Mohmand Agency have frequently been targeted in the past. The committees were formed after the 2011 military operation in the region and they were supposed to work closely with the security forces for maintaining peace in the agency.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2014.
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Really sad to see those pictures... There is no limit of human suffering..