Motives unascertained: Two injured as militants blow up house in Charsadda

Police says incident a clear case of threats for extortion money.

CHARSADDA: Two pedestrians were injured when a bomb planted by unidentified militants to blow up a house in Matta Daman area exploded near them early Monday morning.

Victim Fawad Ali told Khwaja Was police official Wilayat Khan that he saw two men in masks stopping near Asim Khan’s house at Sehr and placing a canister outside his gate. They were on a motorbike, he added. Asim works for a local NGO and is the owner of a private school.



Ali met another resident of the area Intikhab Alam on the street and told him what he saw. “As I was dialling Asim’s number to tell him about the canister, a huge explosion occurred and I was thrown away,” said Ali, adding when he gained consciousness, he was bleeding and someone was taking him and Alam to District Headquarters Hospital.

According to the police, five kilogrammes of explosives were used in the bomb which was planted outside Asim’s house. The explosion destroyed the main gain and boundary wall of the house.

Asim filed a case stating neither did he have any enemies nor had he received any threats.

A policeman, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that cases where the victims do not know why they were targeted are dismissed. “How can we investigate further when the victim said he was neither threatened nor has any enemies?” the official questioned.

He further said a number of houses were blown up in the limits of the police station by militants who demand extortion money and this, he said, was a clear case of extortion as Asim was at a sound financial position. He added Asim must have received some threats and on his refusal to pay militants, they targeted his house.

The official added most of the time they do not arrest anyone because the residents either do not cooperate or do not file cases altogether.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2013.