Market attack: Donkey cart bombing kills 6 in Khyber Agency

Those dead were either shopkeepers or customers.

PESHAWAR: Six people died when a driverless donkey cart, laden with explosives, ran into a market area of Tirah valley in Khyber Agency.

Eight others sustained injuries while the donkey also died in the attack.

Bara Assistant Political Agent Rehan Gul Khattak told The Express Tribune that the explosion was very powerful and six people died on the spot. He said that five of the injured were taken to hospitals in Peshawar after a six-hour-long journey but their condition is said to be out of danger.

No group has yet accepted responsibility for the attack.

The political administration confirmed the incident and said that the victims did not belong to any organisation or group. They were either shopkeepers or customers.

In another incident in the same area, seven people, including five children and a woman, died when a mortar shell fell in Dari Shagga village during an ongoing clash between Lashkar-i-Islam and Zakhakhel Peace Lashkar. Four others were injured.

Meanwhile, security forces continued their operation against Lashkar-i-Islam in Bara. The houses of two commanders Mian Syed and Syed Alam were bombed and three suspects were arrested during a search operation.

For the past four years, the far-flung Tirah valley of Khyber Agency has been a battleground between militant groups Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-e-Islam. Thousands of people have died or been injured in the hostility in this mountainous region which is inaccessible even for the Pakistan Army.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th,  2011.