Two young boys inspect a damaged wall in the wake of the attack. A total of seven mortar shells were fired at the Hayatabad area. PHOTO: ONLINE
At least 23 people were injured and several houses damaged when seven mortar shells landed in Nawab Market and its surrounding areas in Hayatabad on Tuesday.
Police said the shells had been fired from the adjacent region of Khyber Agency. They landed in street 5, 6 and 7 of sector F-6, Phase 6, Hayatabad. The target of the volley was the headquarters of Frontier Corps (FC), but all the shells landed in the nearby houses instead, the police added.
The injured were rushed to the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) where their condition was said to be stable.
There have been frequent incidents of shells being fired in Hayatabad, which neighbours Bara tehsil. This has forced residents to flee the area.
Many of Hayatabad’s residents are those already displaced from Khyber Agency and unable to find houses in other parts of the city because of higher rents.
Some who had relocated from the area claimed security forces told them to leave through announcements made from nearby mosques. However, police denied the allegations, saying frequent shelling forced them to panic and flee.
A local, Jawad Khan, while talking to The Express Tribune said a family member called and informed him about the evacuation announcements. Khan added he rushed home and took his mother and sister to a safe location.
“We shifted to a house in Phase 3,” he said, claiming even the watchman refused to perform his duty and fled.
Dr Saima also shifted her two children, three-year-old Iqra and two-year-old Abu Umar, from her house in F-6. Saima said she was on duty at HMC when she learnt about the shelling. “I left the hospital immediately and moved my children to a house in Phase 3.”
Similarly, Muhammad Musharraf, a property dealer by profession, also fled and shifted to a relative’s house.
Tuesday’s was the second such incident within a week. The earlier target was also the FC headquarters. On Friday, a child was killed and five others, including a police constable, were injured when four mortar shells landed in the same locality. FC personnel returned fire, striking militant hideouts inside the tribal areas.
On January 23, five mortars were fired at the FC headquarters, three of which fell inside the FC’s residential complex, while two fell in an open area. Fortunately, no loss of life or property occurred in that instance.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 10th, 2013.
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