Mortar explosion at warehouse kills labourer

Police say mortar shell went off accidentally and it was not a sabotage attempt.

PESHAWAR: One labourer was killed in a low intensity blast when a mortar shell exploded at a scrap warehouse in the Jamil Chowk area of Ring Road early Friday morning.

Locals said that the ill-fated labourer Zahir was seriously injured while unloading a truck of scrap smuggled from Afghanistan and died before reaching the hospital.

They said that there were several scrapped mortar shells in the truck and one of them exploded during the unloading process.

Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) official Hukem Khan told the Express Tribune that it was an old mortar shell that exploded when it hit the ground, killing the labourer.

He confirmed that it was military scrap coming from Afghanistan.

Yakotot police confirmed the blast and said that the mortar shell in the scrap went off accidentally and it was not a sabotage attempt.