Bomb blast: Girl killed, three of a family injured in Hangu

Victim denies having enmity; source says family was targeted for having links with rival militant group.

HANGU:

A teenage girl was killed and three of her family members injured when a bomb planted along the boundary wall of their house in Gulshan Colony exploded on Wednesday night.

Hangu District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Mian Saeed Ahmad told media persons that the bomb was planted along the rear wall of the house of Muhammad Sharif, a resident of Orakzai Agency, and was detonated remotely at around 12:40 am. Ahmad said the police and the residents shifted Sharif, his son Habibullah, 16, and two daughters Iqra, 5, and Bibi Aisha, 18, to the District Headquarters Hospital, where Aisha died of injuries. The DPO said that the house was destroyed in the explosion.

Sharif, who recently left the troubled Orakzai Agency to settle in Hangu, told the police that has no enmity with anyone. However, an independent source told The Express Tribune that Sharif and his family were attacked by a group of militants who suspect him of having association with a rival militant group in Orakzai Agency.

Police said that over 12 houses had been detonated by unidentified people in Hangu District during the last six months. The source suspects these are attacks by militant groups on the people from the troubled Orakzai and Kurram agencies who migrated to Hangu.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2012.