Twin explosions: Six children die in Hangu IED blasts

Three children also critically injured as two IEDs go off one after another.

HANGU:

At least six children were killed and three others suffered injuries, when two IEDs detonated on Thursday morning in the Dorri Bandha area of district Hangu, in Kyber-Pakhtunkwa (K-P).

Hangu DPO Naeem Kundi said two bombs were planted at Dorri Bandha area on the main road that stretches from Hangu to Kurram Agency.

He said the first bomb exploded at around 10am, after which children from the nearby village came to the spot to see what had happened.

“As the children reached the site of explosion, another IED went off as a result of which six children – Shafiullah, 14, Zahidullah, 12, Muhammad Irshad, 15, Muhammad Saad, 12, Abdul Sammad, 14, and an unknown child were killed on the spot.”

Kundi said three other children – Asadullah, 12, Muhammad Baseer, 13, and Asad, 14 – were also injured in the incident and were rushed to the Hangu hospital, adding that all the injured were later shifted to Peshawar due to their critical condition.

According to officials, around six kilogrammes of explosive material was used in each of the blasts. “Apparently the target of the blasts was not the children. It might be police or the security forces deployed in the nearby area.”

The people of the area later took the bodies of the victims and staged a protest against Hangu police and district administration. K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak has announced compensation of Rs0.5 million for the families of each victim and Rs0.2million for each of the injured.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2014.