Bomb planted on bus kills 9 passengers in Pakistan
No one claims responsibility
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, April 13, (Agencies): A bomb blast on a bus in Peshawar killed at least nine people on Saturday, officials said, in the latest attack to hit Pakistan’s troubled northwest ahead of historic polls next month.
“At least nine passengers have been killed and seven injured. Bomb disposal offi- cials told me that it was a timed device,” Fazal Wahid, a senior police official told AFP.
Another officer, Imran Shahid said police were investigating the possibility a suicide bomber was involved in the attack which occurred as the was bus passing through the city’s Matani suburb. There was no immediate claim for responsibility, but Peshawar is regularly targeted by the Pakistani Taleban who have waged an insurgency against the state since 2007.
Bus driver Jehanghir Khan, who was not hurt, told reporters that the device had been planted under a seat.
“I didn’t see any suspicious person. I don’t know who planted this bomb. I was passing through the bazar of Matni when I suddenly heard the blast,” he said. He said the blast damaged some shops nearby, as well as the bus.
An intelligence official in the city said the attack may be a reaction to a fresh military push in the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal district, where the army has been fighting Taleban and Lashkar-e-Islam militants.
Military officials said heavy fighting between Pakistani troops and militants has killed 23 soldiers and 110 militants in Khyber this week.
Khyber straddles the NATO supply line into Afghanistan, used by US-led troops to evacuate military equipment ahead of their 2014 withdrawal.
Officials say securing Khyber is key to protecting security in Peshawar, ahead of elections which will mark the country’s first democratic transition of power after a civilian government has served a full term in office.
Abdul Haq, a senior bomb disposal expert told AFP that four to five kilograms of highly explosive material was used.
The bomb destroyed three shops and a motorcycle, police and witnesses said.
“I was going to buy some milk when a huge blast took place. It was so powerful that it threw me back in my shop,” Asad Khan, an 18-year-old shopkeeper in the market told AFP from his hospital bed.
Khan sustained injuries in his right shoulder and legs.
Anwar Ali, a passenger in the bus said the blast overturned the vehicle.
“I was sitting in the front seat when a powerful wave struck me and my head hit the front wind screen. I don’t know what happened after that,” Ali told AFP.
In an earlier incident, militants blew up the election office of Kamran Khan, a former legislator from North Waziristan who supported the outgoing government led by the Pakistan People’s Party. No one was hurt.