Three girls among four killed in grenade attack on Charsadda wedding

A number of guests including women and children were attending the ceremony when men threw the grenade.

CHARSADDA: Four people including three girls were killed and thirteen others were injured when unidentified men hurled a hand grenade into a house during a marriage ceremony in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Police said late on Saturday.

Station House Officer (SHO) Khan Zeb told The Express Tribune that the four girls of varying age and a man was were busy in a marriage ceremony at the house of (Late) Faqir Muhammad in the Laato Korno locality when the grenade exploded, killing them. “According to initial investigation the incident seems to resemble that of personal enmity between two families,” the SHO said.

Confirming that thirteen people had also been injured in the attack, he said “the attackers lobbed a hand grenade into the house where Noor Alam was getting married that caused the deaths and the injuries.”

The officer added that the incident may relate to the fact that Alam’s brother had eloped with a girl, and seven men from the rival family have been nominated in the FIR.

Police have also claimed to have arrested a suspect believed to have been involved in the grenade attack from the same locality.

The injured were immediately rushed to the District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) Charsadda, however due to lack of facilities; most of the injured were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar. Dr Nawaz, the Medical Superintendent (MS) of DHQ Charsadda told The Express Tribune that a total of four dead and thirteen injured were brought to the hospital “eight seriously injured mostly women and children were shifted to Peshawar while seven were being treated at the hospital locally”. There were four sister amongst the injured.

The killed were identified as Khadija, Sohaila, Hifsa and Gulber. Police have launched a search operation after the incident where as a search for the seven accused named in the police report too was underway. According to residents of the area several members of Alam’s family had gathered at his house for the function and a majority of the guests consisted of women and children.