The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack that took place in a busy market on Kohat Road in the Scheme Chowk area.
Militants set off the remote-controlled bomb seconds before a PAF vehicle en route to Badabher airbase approached the area, police said. As a result, a D I Khan-bound passenger van, which drove past at the time, was hit.
Fazal-e-Maula, the deputy superintendent of police (DSP), confirmed the PAF vehicle was the target. He said the blast damaged several vehicles and shops in the market.
“At least eight people have been killed and 32 others wounded,” he said. “The bomb was apparently planted in a car which was parked on a roadside.”
DSP Fazal-e-Maula said the police have found the engine of the car used in the blast.
Inspector General Shafqat Malik, who also heads the Bomb Disposal Squad, said the bomb weighed 30 to 40 kilogrammes. The PAF confirmed its casualties in a statement. “A PAF minivan, carrying three civilian employees, was hit by shrapnel from the blast,” a PAF spokesperson said in the statement. The PAF casualties were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Peshawar.
Witnesses said the deafening explosion was heard within a radius of several kilometers. Shakur, a motorcycle mechanic, was in his workshop in the market when the blast occurred.
“A thick cloud of dust and smoke covered the area for a good 15 minutes,” he told The Express Tribune. When the dust settled Shakur saw a neighbouring shopkeeper lying on the ground.
“I rushed towards him but he was already dead … two more bodies were lying nearby, I recognised them immediately, they were helpers in a shop,” Shakur said.
The casualties other than the injured PAF personnel were driven to the Lady Reading Hospital.
Medics confirmed they have received seven bodies and 29 injured. One of them later succumbed to his injuries. Another four injured are said to be in a critical condition.
Ghulum Farid, who received shrapnel wounds, said that he and his five-year-old son were traveling to Lakki Marwat in the passenger coach.
“When we reached Kohat Road, I heard the explosion … the blast ripped through the rear of the coach. Luckily, my son remained unhurt, while I received shrapnel wounds,” he told The Express Tribune from his hospital bed.
The TTP’s Darra Adam Khel and Khyber Agency chapter claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Our target was the PAF vehicle. And the attack was to avenge the killing of Sheikh Naseeb Khan, a cleric who disappeared some time ago and his body was found on May 3,” TTP spokesperson, identifying himself as Muhammad, told journalists in a phone call from an undisclosed location.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2012.
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This is not attack it is government secorty target this van our government is crapet no low any where kiling peoples and burn factories no low