BANNU: The funeral prayers for the 12 martyrs, who had been trapped under the debris of roofs of houses and a mosque collapsed due to explosions in Bannu Cantonment, were offered at Ziad Akram Khan Durrani Sports Complex on Wednesday.
Gloom and fear prevailed in the area while neither divisional nor district administration officials and representatives attended the funeral.After the funeral prayers, thousands of people transported the bodies of martyrs, including six members of a family, to their ancestral graveyards via ambulances, where they were laid to rest. Excavators were used to dig graves for the burial of the martyrs.
Former speaker of the National Assembly, Zahid Akram Durrani and former minister Syed Hamid Shah, Member National Assembly Maulana Syed Naseem Ali Shah, tribal leader Malik Adnan Khan along with other elders attended the funeral prayers.
It may be mentioned that 12 civilians, including women and children, had been martyred, while 41 others had sustained injuries when terrorists attacked the Bannu Cantonment on Tuesday evening.
The attack took place at Iftar when terrorists detonated two explosive-laden vehicles one after the other in the Kot Barara area. The explosions caused the collapse of a mosque and residential buildings, resulting in the deaths of a child among the 12 victims and injuries to 41 others.
Security forces foiled the terrorist attack, killing six terrorists. After Iftar, two suicide bombers detonated explosives near the Army checkpoint in Kot Barara, creating a breach in the wall. The terrorists then attempted to enter the cantonment, but security forces immediately neutralised them.
Due to the explosions, a mosque in Kot Barara collapsed, burying fasting worshippers under the debris. The injured were transported to the District Headquarters Hospital, where an emergency was declared. The explosions also caused the collapse of several roofs in the surrounding areas, leaving 41 people injured and many houses destroyed.
The rescue operation was completed and the injured, including women and children, were shifted to the hospital. The operation was supervised by the District Emergency Officer, who was accompanied by the District Emergency Officer from Karak.
Medical technicians from Rescue 1122 provided immediate medical aid to the injured at the incident site and hospital. Teams from Rescue 1122 Bannu, along with Rescue 1122 Karak and Rescue 1122 Lakki Marwat, participated in the operation.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shahab Ali Shah and IGP Zulfiqar Hameed visited District Headquarters Hospital Bannu, where they visited the injured in the tragic incident that took place yesterday. They listened to the problems of the patients, assured them of all possible cooperation and also distributed gifts among them.
On this occasion, Commissioner Bannu Division, Regional Police Officer Bannu, Deputy Commissioner Bannu, District Police Officer Bannu, MNA Maulana Naseem Ali Shah, Chief Warden Civil Defense Naimat Ali Advocate, DIG, DPO, Commissioner and hospital administration were also present.