Terror hits Peshawar again: 8 martyred, 90 injured as bomb rips through seminary

PESHAWAR: At least eight persons were martyred and more than 90 sustained injuries when a powerful bomb ripped through a madrassa in Dir Colony locality near the Ring Road here on Tuesday.

Eyewitnesses said the bomb went off after 8:00am when a senior teacher of the Jamia Zubairia, Rahimullah Haqqani, was delivering his lecture, which was also being shown live on social media. Many watching the live video saw the bomb going off when the teacher was explaining a Hadith to the large number of students.

“There was dust and smoke all over while most of those present in the main hall were lying in a pool of blood. Those who remained unharmed rescued the wounded and shifted the bodies out of the destroyed hall,” an eyewitness said. Local people also joined the rescue effort.

The copies of the holy Quran and pages of other religious books were scattered and burnt all over the main hall after the explosion. A student of the religious school said around 600 students were enrolled in the seminary. “Eight people died in the blast that was triggered through a time device,” Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Ali Gandapur told The News. He added that the security was already updated following recent threat alerts and the police had carried out search operations in the area recently. A source informed that unidentified armed men had attacked the teacher of the seminary, Rahimullah Haqqani, a few years back. A number of students from Afghanistan were also studying in the seminary.

Superintendent of Police (SP) City Waqar Azeem told reporters that someone had placed an IED-stuffed bag in the main hall, which went off at around 8:15am.

Assistant Inspector General of the bomb disposal unit Shafqat Malik said around five kilogram powerful explosives were used in the blast. He said they were investigating to find out if the powerful TNT explosives were used in the blast triggered through a timer. “A large number of ball bearings and shrapnel were used to cause maximum damage,” added Shafqat Malik. The officials at the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar said seven bodies and around 76 wounded were brought to the hospital after the blast. One of the wounded expired at hospital later.

The wounded included over 20 students belonging to Afghanistan as well as young boys from different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a few from Balochistan. Senior police officials and top government functionaries visited the site of the blast.