Car bomb kills 12 in Peshawar market
01 September, 2012
PESHAWAR: A car bomb ripped through a market on Friday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 12, officials said.
The device in a pickup truck exploded near a mosque in Matni Bazaar, a southern suburb of Peshawar, senior police official Khursheed Khan said.
Another senior police official, Zarman Shah, said the death toll stood at 12, with 12 wounded -- three in a critical condition.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said three men had taken the vehicle to a workshop and a mechanic was working on it when the blast occurred.
"We are investigating whether the car was brought to (the) workshop for mechanical repairs or to plant a bomb, or whether the bomb had already been planted and it went off during repair," Hussain said.
According to police, around 40 to 45 kgs of explosive was packed in the pickup, which was parked at the workshop owned by Haji Gul Meraj.
The injured were rushed to Lady Reading Hospital, six of them were in serious condition. The blast also damaged several shops at the market.
Meanwhile, KP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti and Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Khan Bilour strongly condemned the bombing.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban have been carrying out similar bombings and suicide attacks in Peshawar.
Pakistan is on the frontline of the US-led war on al Qaeda. Since July 2007, a Taliban-led insurgency has been fighting against the US-allied government.
In the last five years, attacks blamed on bombers have killed more than 5,000 people according to an AFP tally.
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