Blast in Peshawar: Death toll reaches 6
With around 300 shops, Nishtarabad is the largest market of audio and video CDs in the province.
PESHAWAR:
Militancy: 5 killed in blast at Peshawar’s CD market
At least five people were killed and over two dozen injured in a bomb explosion targeting a market selling CDs in Peshawar on Monday.
The market is situated in Nishtarabad Chowk, a thickly-populated area close to the Grand Trunk Road in the centre of the city.
Medics at Peshawar’s largest Lady Reading Hospital said that they have received five bodies and 30 wounded people from the blast site. They added that there was one woman among the dead.
Bashir Bilour, senior minister in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cabinet, confirmed the death toll and told AFP at the hospital that police had informed him that the bomb was probably planted on a motorcycle.
(Read: Bomb threat - As terrorism threats rise, so do security measures in Peshawar)
A Bomb Disposal Unit official told The Express Tribune that it was an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing eight to ten kilograms. The bomb was attached to a motorcycle and was detonated remotely. “A large number of ball bearings were also used in the bomb to kill maximum number of people,” he added.
“The bomb was strapped to a motorbike and detonated with a remote control,” Senior Superintendent of Police Ijaz Ahmed told The Express Tribune. “The target was the CD market,” he added.
Ahmed told AFP that the blast damaged 30 shops with 20 of the shops completely destroyed. The blast triggered a fire on Sidiq General Store which was gutted.
Jalalud Din, a lawyer who received head injuries from the blast, said he was shopping in the area when the blast took place.
“There was a huge blast as I was buying candies for my kids. I lost consciousness after my head struck a wall,” Din told The Express Tribune.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but Taliban militants have bombed music shops in several cities and towns in the past, saying there is no room for music in Islam.
With around 300 shops, Nishtarabad is the largest market of audio and video CDs in the province. Earlier this market was bombed on October 9, 2007. There were no fatalities from that blast.
(With additional input from AFP)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2011.
The death toll from the remote-controlled blast that occured in the Nishterabad area of Peshawar on Monday reached six, while an FIR has been filed against unidentified assailants, reported Express 24/7.
A spokesperson for the Lady Reading Hospital confirmed the death toll.
At least 11 people, out of 30 wounded in the blast, are still under treatment at the hospital.
The debris of 20 shops was also cleared; however, most of the shops in the area remained closed.
Updated from print version (below)
Militancy: 5 killed in blast at Peshawar’s CD market
At least five people were killed and over two dozen injured in a bomb explosion targeting a market selling CDs in Peshawar on Monday.
The market is situated in Nishtarabad Chowk, a thickly-populated area close to the Grand Trunk Road in the centre of the city.
Medics at Peshawar’s largest Lady Reading Hospital said that they have received five bodies and 30 wounded people from the blast site. They added that there was one woman among the dead.
Bashir Bilour, senior minister in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cabinet, confirmed the death toll and told AFP at the hospital that police had informed him that the bomb was probably planted on a motorcycle.
(Read: Bomb threat - As terrorism threats rise, so do security measures in Peshawar)
A Bomb Disposal Unit official told The Express Tribune that it was an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing eight to ten kilograms. The bomb was attached to a motorcycle and was detonated remotely. “A large number of ball bearings were also used in the bomb to kill maximum number of people,” he added.
“The bomb was strapped to a motorbike and detonated with a remote control,” Senior Superintendent of Police Ijaz Ahmed told The Express Tribune. “The target was the CD market,” he added.
Ahmed told AFP that the blast damaged 30 shops with 20 of the shops completely destroyed. The blast triggered a fire on Sidiq General Store which was gutted.
Jalalud Din, a lawyer who received head injuries from the blast, said he was shopping in the area when the blast took place.
“There was a huge blast as I was buying candies for my kids. I lost consciousness after my head struck a wall,” Din told The Express Tribune.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but Taliban militants have bombed music shops in several cities and towns in the past, saying there is no room for music in Islam.
With around 300 shops, Nishtarabad is the largest market of audio and video CDs in the province. Earlier this market was bombed on October 9, 2007. There were no fatalities from that blast.
(With additional input from AFP)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2011.