Bomb targeting PAF bus kills 10 in Peshawar
20 September, 2012
PESHAWAR: A powerful car bomb apparently targeting a vehicle of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) near Scheme Chowk on Kohat Road killed 10 people and wounded 34 others, including women and children, in a terrorist attack on Wednesday, police said.
"At least nine people have been killed in the blast and 34 others wounded," senior administration official Javed Marwat told AFP. Glass, metal and pieces of human flesh littered ground near a busy market on Kohat Road. The blast also damaged four vehicles, including the PAF's, however, passengers of a Kohat-bound coaster were the victims. The blast completely destroyed the bus. No group claimed responsibility for the blast.
"It is unclear whether the terrorists targeted the air force vehicle or were simply interested in bloodbath of innocent people," Badhaber Police Station in-charge Naseem Hayat told reporters. "It appears as if the PAF vehicle was the target," said a senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bomb Disposal Squad Additional IG Shafqat Malik told reporters the bomb was planted in a car parked at a roadside that exploded when a PAF vehicle was passing by. He said 30 to 40 kilogrammes of explosives had been used in the explosion.
Police and rescue teams rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to Lady Reading Hospital for treatment, where the condition of four of them was said to be critical. Meanwhile, a PAF spokesman clarified that the condition of three civil employees of the air force was stable.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf have strongly condemned the blast, saying it was a dastardly act by the elements who had no regard for human life and dignity.
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