Peshawar blast: FC commandant escapes suicide attack

At least 12 dead, over two dozen wounded in the attack in high security zone.

PESHAWAR:

A suicide bomber targeted the head of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC), killing at least 12 people and injuring more than two dozen others in the high security zone of the city on Friday morning.

FC Commandant Abdul Majeed Marwat remained unhurt in the attack that took place around 10:30 am near Greens Shadi Hall in the Saddar area, according to police. Witnesses said the bomber was on foot and struck when the convoy of the FC commandant approached a check post of the Military Police in the cantonment area.

“I was the target, but I remained unhurt,” Marwat told The Express Tribune. He added that the bomber struck when the last vehicle in the convoy drove past him.

The casualties were driven to the nearby Combined Military Hospital and Lady Reading Hospital.

Medics at the CMH confirmed they have received four dead and over a dozen injured. Six dead, including a woman and her daughter, and nearly a dozen injured were confirmed at the LRH – two of them died later. The dead women were identified as Shabana Kausar and her daughter Janat Bibi.

Faisal Kamran, the superintendent of police Cantt, told journalists that the commandant had a narrow escape though his vehicle was slightly damaged in the attack. Kamran added that the police have found body parts of the bomber, which have been sent for DNA test.

Witness Zahoor Khattak said that he was at a nearby bank branch when he heard a huge explosion. “Dust and smoke enveloped the whole area and when it cleared I saw people rushing to the site to help the casualties,” he told The Express Tribune.

Umar Din, 21, a rickshaw driver, said the force of the explosion flipped his rickshaw onto the ground. “I came out and saw my passenger bleeding,” he told AFP. “I picked up the passenger on my shoulder and ran to a safe place, it was horrible, people were bleeding and crying,” he added.

An official of the Frontier Constabulary confirmed that two men from his force – Arshad and Ishfaq – were killed and seven injured. An official of the ISPR said two army soldiers – Tajumul Hussain and Babar – were also among the dead.

Bomb Disposal Squad officials said the attacker was carrying at least eight kilogrammes of explosives in his suicide vest. Ball bearings were also used in the device to inflict maximum casualties.

It was the third attack on the same road and second on any top FC official. In 2010, then FC commandant Sifwat Ghayoor was killed in a suicide attack in the Saddar area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but police, soldiers and paramilitary units are frequently targeted by the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella of homegrown militant groups which has been fighting an insurgency since July 2007.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2013.