Terror revisits Peshawar: Suicide bomber targets returning Tirah villagers

Four people were killed and 11 others injured in the attack.

PESHAWAR:

A suicide bomber targeted a registration point for returning Tirah Valley residents on Eidgah Road on Sunday, killing at least four people and leaving 11 injured.

The spot was set up at the Tehmash Khan Stadium, from where the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of the fertile valley were in the process of going to their ancestral villages.

SSP Operations Najeebur Rehman Bagvi told The Express Tribune that a suicide bomber first attacked the khasadar force sentry at the entrance of the stadium with a pistol. Later he blew himself up inside the stadium.

“He injured the sentry with the firing and fought his way into the stadium but blew himself up when other members of khasadar force returned fire and a gun battle ensued,” he added, saying that there were six khasadars deployed to guard the registration point at the time of the attack.

“It was the second day of the registration process,” he said.

A member of the khasadar force, Bara resident Shakil said he was standing at the main gate at the time of the attack.

“I saw him. He was a young man … around 20 years old with a long moustache,” he said Shakil, adding that he fired two shots at him, leaving him injured.

“I fell on the ground upon receiving two bullets after which I heard gun shots and then finally a loud explosion,” he maintained.

Three people died on the spot, while one of the wounded succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Some of the injured are said to be in a critical condition.

“We have identified two of the dead as Jamal Khan, a resident of Landi Kotal and Mumtaz, a resident of Nowshera,” said casualty in-charge Dr Khizar Hayat. The remaining deceased were identified as Inam and Badam.

Another eyewitness Kalam Afridi, who is from Tirah Valley, said he came to the camp to register himself and his family members when the attack took place.

“I heard firing after which everyone started running. Then a blast occurred with which smoke and dust engulfed the area. I saved my life by running away from the point as guards resorted to indiscriminate firing,” he said.

“I saw a 60-year-old man lying dead on the ground along with two other bodies. When the firing stopped, we helped shift the injured to hospital.”

An official of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) said that around nine kilogrammes of high-intensity explosives had been used in the vest and that the body parts of the suicide bomber had been found.

The registration point had been established for the IDPs of Tirah Valley who were forced to leave their homes after the valley was captured by Lashkar-e-Islam and TTP fighters from the Mufti Meboobul Haq-led Ansarul Islam last year in March.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2014.