One killed, two injured in Hangu suicide attack

Bomber targets men loyal to Taliban commander Mullah Nabi Hanfi; TTP claims responsibility.

HANGU: One person was killed and two were injured in a suicide attack targeting men loyal to a renegade Taliban commander on the outskirts of Hangu district on Friday.

Hangu police DSP Sona Khan said a suicide bomber detonated the explosives around 7am outside the house of an Afghan resident, Zaki, in the Feroz Ghundai refugee camp, Sarakdana, killing a man and injuring two others. He identified the deceased as Ibrahim and the injured as Jehanzeb and Shahzed. He added all three belonged to Mullah Nabi Hanfi’s group of Taliban.

According to the DSP, the bomber was targeting Hanfi group members residing at Zaki’s house.

“The owner of the house was not present at the time of the explosion,” he added. The officer further said the two injured were shifted by their fellow group members to an undisclosed location.

Five rooms of the house were destroyed in the explosion. “We found the suicide bomber’s leg and have sent it for a DNA test,” the DSP said.

Mullah Nabi, meanwhile, claimed that the bomber, who he alleged was sent by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was gunned down while trying to force his way into the house. Talking to journalists via telephone, he said the bomber’s jacket detonated after he was killed, killing Ibrahim on the spot and injuring Jehanzeb and Shehzad.

At the same time, talking to journalists from an undisclosed location, TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a suicide bomber affiliated with his group targeted a Hanfi group compound killing 15 members. He added that the TTP would not let go a single opportunity to attack Mullah Nabi.

Nabi said his group was on TTP’s hit list since the latter wanted to seize control of Hangu, Kohat, Orakzai and parts of the Kurram Agency.

“They want to carry out the US-Israel lobby’s bidding in this region, but my members will never allow them to enter this area,” he maintained.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2012.