Terror in Peshawar: Bomb blast targeting police station injures five

Explosive device planted on a motorcycle parked inside a police station.

PESHAWAR:

Five people, including three policemen, were injured in a blast targeting a police station in Peshawar on Friday.

Talking to reporters, City Police Superintendent Ismail Karak said the blast took place within the limits of Hashtnagri police station.

“Three policemen and two civilians, who were locked up at the police station at the time, were injured in the explosion,” he said, adding that the blast also damaged part of the police station building and nearby vehicles.

“Luckily, no one was seriously hurt.”

According to SP Ismail Karak, the explosive device was planted on a Honda CD-70 motorcycle parked right next to the police station building. “We are investigating how the motorcycle managed to get so close to the police station,” he told reporters.

A police official speaking to The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity said that strangely there was no record of the motorcycle used in the attack in the official register of the police station.

The blast spread panic on the street.

Recalling the events, eyewitness Jehanzeb said police officials present at the station responded to the attack by opening aerial fire. “This spread more panic among bystanders and forced shopkeepers to leave their businesses and run for their lives,” he said.

Police officials cordoned off the area immediately after the blast. The injured were moved to the Lady Reading Hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2013.