Attack foiled in swat: 400 worshippers saved from attack

Sources said one security person was also injured, while an accomplice managed to escape.

MINGORA:

A suicide attack targeting a mosque during Friday prayers was foiled by security forces and a local peace militia in Swat.

Two suicide attackers, equipped with hand grenades and suicide vests, tried entering the mosque in Qalagey village, Kabal district, of Swat, but were promptly intercepted. The attackers shot bullets at the security forces and one of them died in retaliation while the other managed to escape.

The village is located some 40 kilometres from Mingora.

Yousuf Khan, president of the peace militia, said that two men with suspicious body language were spotted among the locals entering the mosque for Friday prayers and were stopped by officials. “One of them opened fire but was killed in time,” he said.

Khan said there were around 400 people in the mosque at the time the attackers tried to target it.

A search operation is under way to arrest the second attacker, according to Swat Media Centre spokesperson Colonel Arif.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th,  2011.