A rescue worker comforts a man over the death of his relative. PHOTO: REUTERS
Six people were killed and eight others injured in a powerful bomb blast inside a motor workshop in Scheme Chowk, Kohat Road, on the outskirts of Peshawar on Thursday afternoon.
Around a dozen shops and 18 vehicles were also damaged in the blast.
Superintendent of rural Police Rahim Shah told The Express Tribune that the explosion occurred in a white Mehran car which may have been intended to hit another target inside the city but accidentally detonated inside the workshop.
He said that at least 25 kilogrammes of high-intensity explosives were used in the attack.
“We are investigating the case from every angle. The identification number of the vehicle used in the explosion has been found,” he said.
Four out of the six killed were identified as Farooq Ahmad, Ali Khan, Nisar and Asmatullah. Two bodies are yet to be identified.
The blast was so powerful that it reduced to rubble some shops adjacent to the workshop.
Eyewitness Awal Khan said that he was on the road just outside the workshop when the explosion took place.
“We thought that it was just another incident of a gas cylinder blast as cylinders are used for cooking and preparing tea as well as in vehicles,” he said. He added that when he rushed into the workshop, he realised that it was not a cylinder as bodies were scattered across the workshop and some of the injured were crying for help.
“I saw two children on the ground whose faces were white with fear and panic and they were badly injured,” he said, adding that the injured were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) by the people who also informed the police about it.
A mobile phone tower located inside the workshop appeared untouched by the blast.
The watchman of the tower, Fazal Muhammad, said that he was sipping a cup of tea inside his room when the bomb struck.
“When I came back, the entire area was covered with smoke and dust and everyone was lying on the ground. Vehicles were also damaged and there was a large crater,” he said.
An official of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) Ziratullah said that around 25 to 30 kilogrammes of explosive material had been used in the attack.
“It was a powerful home-made device,” he said.
‘Vehicle’ was in police custody
The vehicle used in the blast was said to be found by police on the PAF Road two days prior to the explosion. The police took it into custody when they were informed that it had been abandoned, a police official of the local Badhaber police station told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.
He said that the initial investigation had revealed that the vehicle was shifted by a policeman to the workshop in the morning.
“It was handed over to police driver Ghani Khan, who took it to the workshop on Thursday to fix it along with his son Ibrahim. Ibrahim went missing in the explosion and is believed to be dead,” he said, adding that the vehicle was taken into custody without a swipe by the BDS and that the policemen’s decision to use it was a mistake.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 24th, 2014.
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