5 injured in IED blasts outside Charsadda court

Area cordoned off as thorough security sweep conducted

SHABQADAR: Five town municipal authority workers were injured when two remote-controlled IEDs went off outside the Charsadda court at the police post.

Charsadda City police station official Imran Khan confirmed the news of the twin blasts.  He said the first blast was heard  in the city when a BDU official tried to defuse a remote-controlled device and it exploded outside the police post at 8:30am. The area was cordoned off by police and a cleaning operation was launched by the TMA. The second remote IED near the post exploded at 11am.

DHQ Hospital Charsadda Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Ali revealed that the five injured TMA workers were received at the hospital. Later, three of them were shifted to LRH in Peshawar for further treatment to multiple injuries.

Charsadda tehsil Council nazim Khalil Bashir Khan said, “After the first blast in the red zone of the city, BDU officials asked us to ‘clean’ the area. When our staff reached the spot, the second blast took place and five TMA workers were injured due to the negligence of BDU officials.” He condemned the blast and police negligence.

The police, on the other hand, said the area was cordoned off by security forces and a thorough search operation was conducted. The official said two killogrammes of explosives were used in the first blast, while the second was being analysed by the BDU.

The area where these blasts occurred is the red zone where civil courts are located as well as the DC and police officials’ residences. The blasts highlight an alarming lapse in the area’s security as the police force observes martyrs week in the district.

On March 7, 2016, a suicide attack resulted in 19 deaths, while 23 people were injured at the Shabqadar civil courts in Charsadda.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2016.