Several injured in cylinder blast at Peshawar clinic

Police say the blast was a result of gas leakage inside the structure

PESHAWAR: Eight people were injured, three of them critically, in a blast inside a private clinic in Peshawar on Friday.

The blast occurred at Noor Plaza area of Ramdas in the provincial capital. Police said the incident was a result of gas leakage inside a room in the clinic, saying it was not a bomb blast.

“BDU [bomb disposal squad] officials inspected the site of the blast and found no trace of explosives inside the room where the blast occurred,” said an official of the local police station.

He added that six people were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where the condition of three of them was stated to be critical.



“The injured are residents of Bannu who were in the clinic for medical examination [at the time of the blast],” he said.

The blast damaged the building severely and caused widespread panic among the locals.

An official of the clinic said that the structure was established on the ground floor and it was used to refer the patients to a nearby hospital so there was only one doctor and a handful of patients inside the clinic at the time of the incident.

“Everything caught fire after the blast and as a result, people inside were burnt badly,” the official added.