Lawyers under attack: Bomber kills 13 at Mardan courts

Four lawyers, three policemen among victims

ISLAMABAD/ MARDAN: At least 13 people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a suicide bomber targeted a court in Mardan city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in a second deadly attack on the legal community in less than a month.

“Four lawyers, three policemen and six civilians are among the victims,” DPO Faisal Shehzad told journalists. The bomber hurled a hand grenade at the police guarding the entrance to the District Courts Mardan before rushing in, he added.

“One of the police guards wrestled with the bomber in an effort to overpower him, who detonated the explosives he was carrying in his vest, killing and injuring people standing near the gate,” DPO Shehzad said.

Amir Hussain, president of the Mardan Bar Association (MBA), said he was in a room nearby when the bomber struck. “There was dust everywhere, and people were writhing in pain,” he said.

His suit drenched in blood, he added: “I started picking up the wounded and putting them in cars to take them to hospital. I did not know if the people I was rescuing were dead or alive.”

Lawyers were being targeted because they are “an important part of democracy, and these terrorists are opposed to democracy,” he said. “Our morale is not dented. It is still high,” he added.

DPO Shehzad said investigators have found body parts of the bomber, who was carrying up to eight kilos of explosives his vest. He revealed that the MBA and district courts had received threats from banned groups.

Gen Raheel consoles a man after the bombing in Mardan. PHOTO: ONLINE

“Subsequently, we stepped up security at courts across the district and installed closed circuit television cameras,” he added. The MBA president wondered how the bomber managed to strike despite tight security.

The casualties were driven to the Mardan Medical Complex and District Headquarters Hospital where some of the dead were identified as MBA’s former general secretary Yousaf Shah Bacha, ANP leaders Akber Khan Mohmand and Haji Arshad Khan, Advocate Ilyas Saani and policemen Junaid Khan, Ishtiaq and Azam Khan.

PM Nawaz Sharif condemned the  attack, saying militants were “showing (their) frustration by attacking soft targets”. “They shall not get space to hide in Pakistan,” he added.

Army chief General Raheel Sharif also visited the injured at the hospital and also attended the funeral of the slain policeman.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan and K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak visited the DHQ to inquire about the health of the injured persons.

The Pakistan Bar Council has appealed to the lawyers to observe a countrywide strike today (Saturday).

Strongly condemning the Mardan blast, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ordered NADRA to help in identifying the terrorist through his fingerprints.

“The fingerprints would help to identify the terrorists involved in the brutal incident,” a statement issued on Friday by the interior ministry quoted Nasir as saying.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2016.