Home Latest News Blast Targets Police Near Peshawar

Blast Targets Police Near Peshawar

by AFP and Staff Report
File Photo. Asif Hassan—AFP

File Photo. Asif Hassan—AFP

At least 10, including a child and a journalist, killed in blast on outskirts of city.

At least 10 people were killed and 36 others injured on Tuesday in a bomb attack during morning rush hour on the outskirts of Peshawar, officials said.

The bomb exploded during a traffic jam in the Wazir Dhand district just outside city limits, on a road linking the Khyber tribal region and Peshawar.

“We have received six dead bodies and 35 injured from the blast site in Wazir Dhand area,” including a seven-year-old child, said Toheed Zulfiqar, a public relations officer at Peshawar’s Hayatabad Medical Complex. Six of the injured are in serious condition, she said.

Local journalist Mehboob Khan Afridi was also killed in the blast. Afridi was former president of the Tribal Union of Journalists and was currently leading the Khyber Union of Journalists.

A local official said the attack apparently targeted a tribal police official. “We have confirmed that it was a suicide attack,” said Ismatullah, a Khyber tribal district administration official. He said the bomber had been traveling on a motorcycle and had detonated himself when he reached the tribal police checkpoint. Ismatullah amended the hospital’s death toll to 10, adding that he expected the casualties to rise. He told Newsweek that a search operation had been launched and the region cordoned off.

Khyber is one of Pakistan’s seven tribal districts situated next to Peshawar and bordering Afghanistan.  The mountainous forest regions have for years been home to some of the world’s most notorious militants linked to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.

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