A bomb ripped through a passenger van in the Khyber tribal region on Wednesday, killing at least six people and injuring another nine. The bomb attack took place in the Jamrud subdivision of Khyber Agency.
“An improvised explosive device (IED), which was planted on a roadside, was detonated when a passenger van drove past,” Muhammad Jamil, the assistant political agent (APA), told The Express Tribune.
“So far we can confirm the death of six people while nine others are injured,” Shakeel Khan Umarzai, a senior administration official, told AFP. “Three people are seriously injured,” he added.
A senior security official said that the van was carrying 15 people to Atharay village when it was attacked. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital where a medic also confirmed the casualties.
“We are treating six other passengers who were wounded while three others who sustained severe injuries have been shifted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) in Peshawar,” said Muhammad Anas.
Dr Imran of the HMC said that two of the injured – Ibrar and Meenabat – were in a stable condition. Eyewitness Nisar Khan told The Express Tribune that the dead bodies taken to the hospital were mutilated.
A strange assortment of militants has been fighting each other for dominance in the Khyber Agency. Among them Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) – led by a powerful local warlord Mangal Bagh Afridi – has been blamed for much of the bloodletting in the region.
Bagh virtually ruled the Bara subdivision until 2009 when security forces launched an operation against him in the region. The operation forced Bagh and his loyalists to hole up in the remote Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. However, they have launched sporadic attacks on pro-government tribesmen in the region who have formed peace militias or Lashkars.
Currently, security forces are conducting a third phase of the operation, codenamed Biya Darghalam (Here I come again) in Bara which has led to the displacement of thousands of local tribesmen.
Leading aid group Save the Children says hundreds of thousands of people living in Khyber Agency have poured into Nowshera and Peshawar due to the operation.
“We have 250,000 people currently displaced, of which 60,000 people were displaced in the last week alone and they are desperate for basic life-saving aid,” Faris Kasim, Save the Children’s spokesman, told AlertNet by phone from Islamabad.
“This is a serious humanitarian crisis and if fighting continues, we estimate that more than half a million are likely to be displaced. They are severely deprived and they need support from the international community and the government.”
Kasim said that while most of the displaced from Khyber Agency had sought refuge with friends and relatives or were in camps, they had little access to basic aid.
“The biggest concern is that people don’t have enough food and water. If they don’t have sufficient food and clean water, they will get sick and will be prone to diseases and infections. Women and children are especially vulnerable,” he said.
(With additional input from AFP)
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2012.
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