Uptick in violence: Bomb kills 13 in Kohat

Dead include a woman and a child; 14 others wounded.

KOHAT/ PESHAWAR: At least 13 people — among them a woman and a child — were killed and 14 others wounded in a bomb blast in the garrison town of Kohat on Sunday.

The bomb was remotely triggered next to the crowded main gate of Usterzai Suzuki Stand on Hangu Road near Peshawar Chowk around 1:30 pm, according to local police officials. The bomb was concealed in an empty crate placed near a passenger van with six people on board, they added.

Twelve people, including all six on board the van, were killed on the spot, while a critically injured man died on way to the Lady Reading Hospital in nearby Peshawar.

All but three bodies — including that of a child — have been identified. They have been named as Boshan Ali, Fazal Akbar, Hussain Ghulam, Muhammad Afzal, Sohrab Ali, Said Lal, Akhtar Ali, Syed Murtaza, Haji Saadullah, and Nusrat.

Several vehicles were also damaged in the blast which took place near where key government buildings, including Police Club, Cantonment Police Station, Girls Degree College and C&W Office, are situated.

The injured were driven to the Kohat Divisional Hospital where medics referred those with critical wounds to the LRH.

Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) official Akbar Khan told journalists that it was an improvised explosive device and weighed around five kilogrammes.

DSP Malik Lal Muhammad said the blast could be the result of the volatile security situation in Waziristan. He added that they had all security arrangements in place in the district and the police were on high alert.

Eyewitness Muhammad Faizan said that he was heading home when he heard a loud explosion near Peshawar Chowk. “A thick cloud of dust and smoke enveloped the area. When it cleared, there was chaos at the bombsite,” he said.

Saif Ali, who survived the blast with some injuries, said that he was travelling to Usterzai when the bomb went off. Soon after the blast a police contingent reached the site and cordoned off the area, he added.

The bomb blast came a day after security forces claimed that nine suspected Taliban – including three commanders – were killed when helicopter gunships bombed their hideouts in neighbouring Hangu district. The blast also happened hours after the security forces killed 38 suspected  militants in fresh air strikes in the remote Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency.

CM announces compensation

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Parvez Khattak expressed sympathies for all the victims and their families. He announced monetary compensation of Rs500,000 for each of the deceased and Rs200,000 for each of the injured. He directed the local administration to ensure early payment to the affected families, according to an official handout.

Khattak said that the bomb attack could be retaliation for the ongoing surgical strikes in the tribal areas. He added that although his administration was taking serious steps to ensure the safety of the people, it was also the prime responsibility of the federal government not to leave the K-P people alone.

He said the federal government was “well aware of our financial, personnel and combat shortcomings, especially against terrorism”. He added that the people of K-P have been “rendering matchless sacrifices for the last so many decades and it is high time the Centre valued our sacrifices and stopped pushing us into more difficulties”.  Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2014.