Sectarian motivated attack: Bomber targets diners in Peshawar restaurant
Nine dead in what Taliban say was ‘an attempt to disrupt peace talks’.
Volunteers remove victims from the site of the suicide bombing in Peshawar. PHOTO: AFP
PESHAWAR:
At least nine diners were killed and 50 others wounded on Tuesday night when a suicide bomber blew himself up here in a low-budget hotel’s restaurant of the city.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) disclaimed responsibility for the attack on Pak Hotel, located in Kocha Risaldar near the historic Qissakhwani Bazaar. “It is an attempt to disrupt the peace talks,” TTP central spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid told journalists in a phone call from an undisclosed location.
The hotel – which is part of Alamdar-e-Karbala Imambargah and maintained by a charity – offers low-cost boarding to Shia travellers mainly from Hangu district and Kurram Agency.
The blast took place around 8:00 pm when the restaurant was full of diners after the night prayers. SSP (Operations) Najeebur Rehman Bagvi confirmed it was a suicide bombing and that the target was diners in Pak Hotel’s restaurant.
“The suicide bomber was a teenager who entered the restaurant and ordered a cup of tea. Moments later, he detonated the explosives vest right in the middle of the restaurant,” Bagvi said, adding that one of the waiters saw him before losing consciousness in the subsequent explosion.
“They have their own security arrangements in place and no outsider come to this hotel or restaurant. We are investigating how the bomber managed to enter the building unnoticed,” he added.
Shafqat Malik, the AIG Special Brach and head of the Bomb Disposal Squad, added that they have recovered the head and severed legs of the bomber. He said that the bomber carried around six kilogrammes of explosives.
The casualties were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where Dr Khizar Hayat, the in charge of emergency ward, confirmed that they have received seven fatalities and 50 injured, among them five children and two women. He added that two of the injured succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.
The dead have been identified as Aoun Ali, Safar Ali, Syed Hassan, Mumtaz Hussain, Noor Qambar, Musam Ali, Hussain Ali, Sher Agha and Khayal Nabi.
“We received seven bodies, some of them with missing limbs. Other than that we received some severed limbs,” Dr Hayat told The Express Tribune.
Eyewitnesses spoke of grisly scenes at the site. “I had my dinner and went out for a walk. I had hardly walked 10 metres when a loud explosion occurred,” said Hassan, who has come to Peshawar from Parachinar, Kurram Agency, along with his mother and was staying at the hotel.
“I rushed back to find the restaurant enveloped in a thick cloud of dust and smoke,” he told The Express Tribune. “Human flesh littered the blood-stained floor of the restaurant and survivors were crying for help,” he added.
Syed Rafiq Hassan, who had also come from Parachinar for shopping, had a hairbreadth escape. “I was carrying by two-year-old daughter, Bibi Zehra, and we were going to the restaurant to dine there. I was hardly two metres from the restaurant when a loud explosion occurred,” he told The Express Tribune from his hospital bed.
“We were behind a wall that sustained the impact of the blast. However, we fell on the ground and lost consciousness,” he added.
The manager of Pak Hotel, Gul Afzal, said that all the guests at his hotel were from Kurram Agency and Hangu and belonged to the Shia community. “We have our own private guards, armed with AK-47 assault rifles. They usually body search every guest except women,” Afzal told The Express Tribune.
He added that they had arranged for their own security because they have been constantly receiving threats for the past few years. The blast ravaged the restaurant building which was packed with diners at the time of the blast.
It is not the first attack on Pak Hotel. In 2008, a car bombing outside the hotel had killed at least 30 people. The same year, a coach carrying passengers from Pak Hotel was targeted with a rocket-propelled grenade. Luckily, the grenade missed the target and no casualties were caused.
Earlier Tuesday, the provincial president of Tahreeke Nifaze Fiqae Jafaria (Musvi Group), Sardar Ali Asghar Karbalai, was shot dead barley 500 metres away from the blast site.
According to the police, Karbalai was on his way to his shop in the morning when unidentified gunmen opened fire on him. He was taken to the LRH where he succumbed to injuries. The killers escaped unseen and unchallenged, while the police believe it was targeted sectarian attack.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2014.
At least nine diners were killed and 50 others wounded on Tuesday night when a suicide bomber blew himself up here in a low-budget hotel’s restaurant of the city.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) disclaimed responsibility for the attack on Pak Hotel, located in Kocha Risaldar near the historic Qissakhwani Bazaar. “It is an attempt to disrupt the peace talks,” TTP central spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid told journalists in a phone call from an undisclosed location.
The hotel – which is part of Alamdar-e-Karbala Imambargah and maintained by a charity – offers low-cost boarding to Shia travellers mainly from Hangu district and Kurram Agency.
The blast took place around 8:00 pm when the restaurant was full of diners after the night prayers. SSP (Operations) Najeebur Rehman Bagvi confirmed it was a suicide bombing and that the target was diners in Pak Hotel’s restaurant.
“The suicide bomber was a teenager who entered the restaurant and ordered a cup of tea. Moments later, he detonated the explosives vest right in the middle of the restaurant,” Bagvi said, adding that one of the waiters saw him before losing consciousness in the subsequent explosion.
“They have their own security arrangements in place and no outsider come to this hotel or restaurant. We are investigating how the bomber managed to enter the building unnoticed,” he added.
Shafqat Malik, the AIG Special Brach and head of the Bomb Disposal Squad, added that they have recovered the head and severed legs of the bomber. He said that the bomber carried around six kilogrammes of explosives.
The casualties were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where Dr Khizar Hayat, the in charge of emergency ward, confirmed that they have received seven fatalities and 50 injured, among them five children and two women. He added that two of the injured succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.
The dead have been identified as Aoun Ali, Safar Ali, Syed Hassan, Mumtaz Hussain, Noor Qambar, Musam Ali, Hussain Ali, Sher Agha and Khayal Nabi.
“We received seven bodies, some of them with missing limbs. Other than that we received some severed limbs,” Dr Hayat told The Express Tribune.
Eyewitnesses spoke of grisly scenes at the site. “I had my dinner and went out for a walk. I had hardly walked 10 metres when a loud explosion occurred,” said Hassan, who has come to Peshawar from Parachinar, Kurram Agency, along with his mother and was staying at the hotel.
“I rushed back to find the restaurant enveloped in a thick cloud of dust and smoke,” he told The Express Tribune. “Human flesh littered the blood-stained floor of the restaurant and survivors were crying for help,” he added.
Syed Rafiq Hassan, who had also come from Parachinar for shopping, had a hairbreadth escape. “I was carrying by two-year-old daughter, Bibi Zehra, and we were going to the restaurant to dine there. I was hardly two metres from the restaurant when a loud explosion occurred,” he told The Express Tribune from his hospital bed.
“We were behind a wall that sustained the impact of the blast. However, we fell on the ground and lost consciousness,” he added.
The manager of Pak Hotel, Gul Afzal, said that all the guests at his hotel were from Kurram Agency and Hangu and belonged to the Shia community. “We have our own private guards, armed with AK-47 assault rifles. They usually body search every guest except women,” Afzal told The Express Tribune.
He added that they had arranged for their own security because they have been constantly receiving threats for the past few years. The blast ravaged the restaurant building which was packed with diners at the time of the blast.
It is not the first attack on Pak Hotel. In 2008, a car bombing outside the hotel had killed at least 30 people. The same year, a coach carrying passengers from Pak Hotel was targeted with a rocket-propelled grenade. Luckily, the grenade missed the target and no casualties were caused.
Earlier Tuesday, the provincial president of Tahreeke Nifaze Fiqae Jafaria (Musvi Group), Sardar Ali Asghar Karbalai, was shot dead barley 500 metres away from the blast site.
According to the police, Karbalai was on his way to his shop in the morning when unidentified gunmen opened fire on him. He was taken to the LRH where he succumbed to injuries. The killers escaped unseen and unchallenged, while the police believe it was targeted sectarian attack.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2014.