Pakistani mourners take part in prayers for the victims of bomb blast at wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Islamabad on April 10, 2014. PHOTO: AFP
Meanwhile, MNA Hamza Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan is in a state of war and it is the government’s top priority to establish peace.
He was speaking to the media after paying a visit to the injured of the April 9 bomb attack.
Expressing optimism about the peace talks he said that the security agencies were doing their job in the best possible way.
The blast that took place in the early hours of Wednesday in the busy market left at least 22 people dead and dozens injured.
According to Inspector General (IG) Islamabad, four to five kilogrammes of explosive material were used in the blast. The explosives were reportedly planted in a crate of fruit.
“It was a bomb blast, heard over a big radius,” local police official Tehzeeb Hussain told AFP.
The blast left a 1.5-metre diameter crater at the site, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Senior local administration official Nauman Yousuf told AFP “it was a planted bomb”.
Speaking to the media later in the day, the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said that the use of technology was imperative for the prevention of such incidents in the future, adding that a transparent system needs to be set up to monitor the transport of goods and produce in the area.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid also issued a condemnation and said it was 'haram' and illegal to attack innocent people in public places.
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