Rising insurgency: Blast targeting polio workers, police kills 2
The explosion went off just as the polio workers reached the dispensary’s main gate.
Policeman inspects the blast site after a bomb attack outside a dispensary in the outskirts of Peshawar. PHOTO: INP
PESHAWAR:
Two people were killed and over a dozen injured in a bomb blast outside a dispensary in a village on the edge of Peshawar on Monday.
The bomb was remotely detonated moments before a police party, accompanied by members of a local Aman Lashker and Razakar Force, entered the dispensary in the Garhi Mali Khel area.
They were scheduled to finalise security arrangements for the ongoing polio vaccination campaign in the area.
A local police official told The Express Tribune that contrary to earlier reports, two people – Assistant Sub-Inspector Sajid and a volunteer of Mashogagar Aman Lashker, Niaz Gul – were killed in the explosion.
Another 13 people – including two polio vaccinators – were injured in the attack, he added. “The commander of Suliman Khel Aman Lashker, Muhammad Fida, is also among the injured.”
Eyewitness Muhammad Maqsood said the blast took place when several vehicles carrying police officials and polio workers reached the main gate of the dispensary.
“I saw several people lying on the ground, including policemen and members of Aman Lashkar as well as Razakar Force,” he said, adding that local people shifted the casualties to the Lady Reading Hospital in private vehicles.
A Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) official Abdul Haq said it was a homemade remote-controlled device weighing around five kilos. The BDS also defused two more bombs each weighing around eight kilos in the same area.
Ten people abducted
Separately, suspected militants allegedly kidnapped at least 10 people, whose vehicles were found abandoned by the roadside early Monday morning in the Mattani area of Peshawar.
Police spotted two pick-ups and as many cars abandoned in the Sra Khwara area Sunday night but didn’t get closer fearing it could be a bobby-trap. In the morning BDS officials were called, who checked and cleared the vehicles.
“The passengers of these vehicles might have been abducted by militant,” said a local police official. “Militants have ambushed security forces and police several times in the area. They had attacked even a civilian convoy in which nine people were killed and several were kidnapped,” he added
He said a night earlier they had snatched a brand new car from a local trader, who had reported to police that there was a group of 20 gunmen who stopped him and drove away his car.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2013.
Two people were killed and over a dozen injured in a bomb blast outside a dispensary in a village on the edge of Peshawar on Monday.
The bomb was remotely detonated moments before a police party, accompanied by members of a local Aman Lashker and Razakar Force, entered the dispensary in the Garhi Mali Khel area.
They were scheduled to finalise security arrangements for the ongoing polio vaccination campaign in the area.
A local police official told The Express Tribune that contrary to earlier reports, two people – Assistant Sub-Inspector Sajid and a volunteer of Mashogagar Aman Lashker, Niaz Gul – were killed in the explosion.
Another 13 people – including two polio vaccinators – were injured in the attack, he added. “The commander of Suliman Khel Aman Lashker, Muhammad Fida, is also among the injured.”
Eyewitness Muhammad Maqsood said the blast took place when several vehicles carrying police officials and polio workers reached the main gate of the dispensary.
“I saw several people lying on the ground, including policemen and members of Aman Lashkar as well as Razakar Force,” he said, adding that local people shifted the casualties to the Lady Reading Hospital in private vehicles.
A Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) official Abdul Haq said it was a homemade remote-controlled device weighing around five kilos. The BDS also defused two more bombs each weighing around eight kilos in the same area.
Ten people abducted
Separately, suspected militants allegedly kidnapped at least 10 people, whose vehicles were found abandoned by the roadside early Monday morning in the Mattani area of Peshawar.
Police spotted two pick-ups and as many cars abandoned in the Sra Khwara area Sunday night but didn’t get closer fearing it could be a bobby-trap. In the morning BDS officials were called, who checked and cleared the vehicles.
“The passengers of these vehicles might have been abducted by militant,” said a local police official. “Militants have ambushed security forces and police several times in the area. They had attacked even a civilian convoy in which nine people were killed and several were kidnapped,” he added
He said a night earlier they had snatched a brand new car from a local trader, who had reported to police that there was a group of 20 gunmen who stopped him and drove away his car.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2013.