Car bomb in Hangu kills nine

The suicide car bombing hit a densely populated area of Hangu, which lies some 150 kilometers south of Peshawar.

PESHAWAR:

At least nine persons, including four policemen, were killed and 36 others were injured in a suicide car bomb attack in the southern Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday.

Police officials said at least 15 of the injured were women and five were children. District Police Officer (DPO) Hangu Abdur Rashid Khan told reporters that when a police party, acting on a tip-off about the presence of a suspicious vehicle in Spin Khawri Chowk, approached the parked car, the explosives were detonated.

The official confirmed that the car bomb attack was a suicide mission.

The blast also destroyed a police mobile, a Suzuki van and over a dozen houses.

A Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) official said that around 400 kilogrammes of explosives were packed in the vehicle. The blast left a seven-foot deep and five-foot wide crater on the ground.

Local sources said that the attack took place on the Bypass Road and destroyed at least 15 houses, while several others were left partially damaged.

The injured were rushed to local hospitals, while four of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. Hangu, situated in the southern part of the province, has been caught in the grip of sectarian and Taliban militants.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2011.