Six killed, 56 injured in Khyber Agency suicide blast

JAMRUD: Six persons, including four members of the Khassadar tribal force, were killed and 56 others sustained injuries on Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a government office in the Jamrud Tehsil of Khyber Agency, eyewitnesses and officials said.
They said Line Officer Tehsinullah was heading to his office in Jamrud when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-filled vest near the official’s vehicle outside the Jamrud Tehsil office.
Khyber Agency’s Political Agent Shahab Ali Shah had earlier confirmed to the media that six persons had died in the explosion and 31 were wounded.
“Six persons were killed and 56 others, including Line Officer Tehsinullah, sustained injuries in the blast,” another official in Jamrud said.
The dead included Imran Khan and Rahat Shah belonging to the Khassadar force. Another dead person was identified as Zar Akbar. A child was also killed in the explosion.
The 56 injured persons included 15 personnel of the Khassadar force made up of local tribesmen.
Two militant groups, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Some of the injured were first taken to the Civil Hospital in Jamrud. Most of the injured were eventually shifted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar.
According to Dr Khalid Latif at the Hayatabad Medical Complex, their hospital received three dead and 51 injured persons and admitted 30 of them. He said three of them were in critical condition. He added that 18 of the injured were discharged after treatment.
One patient, 13-year-old Rehmatullah, son of Sana Gul, was shifted later from the Hayatabad Medical Complex to the cardiovascular ward of the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar.
The Khassadars also defused an explosive device near the site of the suicide blast as they searched the area after the first explosion. An official of the political administration told reporters that the Khassadar personnel had defused the powerful bomb.
Official sources said that the head and other body parts of the suicide bomber had been found and sent to a laboratory for DNA tests.
Locals of the area said that a teenage boy had been spotted wandering in the area before the blast. The rescue officials and security forces personnel reached the spot after the blast and started collecting evidence. A search operation was also undertaken. The area was cordoned off.
Governor Mehtab Ahmad Khan and Political Agent Shahab Ali Shah visited the hospital to inquire after the health of the injured.
The governor said such cowardly acts could not weaken their resolve to continue the fight against terrorists.
Salahuddin Ayubi, spokesman for the Mangal Bagh-led LI, was the first to claim responsibility for the blast. Speaking from an unknown location using an Afghanistan mobile phone number, he said their target were government officials.
Later, the TTP spokesman Mohammad Khorasani asserted responsibility for the suicide attack and said those officials tasked to implement the government’s National Action Plan were the target. He said the attack was carried out by the TTP’s special martyrdom unit. He added that another attacker targeted the rescue team that arrived at the site after the first blast.
Agencies add: Security forces on Tuesday claimed to have killed 13 Taliban militants in fresh air strikes in the Shawal area of North Waziristan Agency.
Security officials said that Pakistan Air Force aircraft pounded the hideouts of militants in the morning.
The army has also launched a ground operation in the Shawal Valley. Scores of militants have reportedly been killed in ground and air attacks.