Lethal attack: Four minors among the dead in Badhaber

Several children were in the area buying groceries when the incident took place.

PESHAWAR:

Four minors were killed and seven injured in a blast in Badhaber that resulted in the deaths of 17 people. Many children were in the area buying groceries when the blast took place.

The minors killed ranged in age from 13 to 15-years-old. The youngest of the injured children was seven-year-old Bibi Haula from Khyber Agency.

Those injured in the blast were brought to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where horrific scenes met family and friends. Many victims said they had never witnessed such an incident in their life, with several claiming the sound of the blast was still lingering in their minds.

Tarik Shah, 13, and his brother Riasat, 20, came under attack while at the market. Both lost their lives on the spot. Another minor, Luqman, 13, was also killed in the lethal assault.



The mutilated bodies of some of the children lay for hours in the mortuary, with their relatives uninformed of the incident. Some, who knew of the attack and came to the hospital, fainted when they saw the remains.

Twelve-year-old Jawad, who also sustained injuries in the attack, said he left his house to buy shampoo when the powerful explosion ripped through the area. He said he was not aware of what hit him in the leg, but believed it was a bullet.

“I heard there was intense firing after the blast and everybody was trying to escape the area,” he said. “The injured were lying on the ground screaming for help... I do not know who brought me to the hospital because several people were busy trying to move the injured.”

“I was in the market to buy some groceries for lunch,” said Muhammad Salman, another wounded victim. “I was inside a house when the blast took place. There was a loud sound and glass hit my head and I dropped on the floor because of heavy bleeding.”

Another injured, Alamzeb, said a large number of casualties occurred as there was a lot of rush in the market at the time.

Requesting anonymity, a rescue worker said he reached the blast site a few minutes after the explosion took place. “However, due to the firing I could not proceed further or shift the injured to the hospital in time to save them.” The worker said he waited at the spot for a period of time before he was allowed to reach the injured and begin transporting them.

The LRH hospital administration confirmed 17 people were killed while 47 others were injured in the roadside blast.

According to LRH spokesperson Syed Jamil Shah, a minor identified as Amir, 12, has been missing since the time of the explosion. His whereabouts could not be ascertained till the filing of this report. The hospital also confirmed three personnel of the Frontier Corps and one police official were injured in the blast. Three bodies could not be identified.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2013.