Four killed as car bomb targets police station

Four people including a police officer was killed while number of others maimed in a car bomb blast near a police station in Mardan, second largest city of NWFP and hometown of the provincial chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti.
The local Taliban have accepted the responsibility of the attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the killing of local commander at the hands of police in the city.
According to reports the powerful explosion occurred at 6:00 am near City Police Station, Mardan in an unidentified car resulting in the killing of three people on the spot and inflicting injuries to dozen others. The deceased were included an Assistant Police Inspector (ASI) Farrukh Said and two passers-by while majority of the injured were stated to be police personnel.
The explosion was so powerful that a room of the police station was collapsed leaving a number of police personnel injured who were shifted to hospitals in Mardan and provincial capital Peshawar.
The Baitullah Mehsud headed local Taliban organisation has reportedly accepted the responsibility of the incident saying the blast was carried out to avenge the murder of a local commander at the hands of police. However, it said that the incident would not affect the ongoing negotiation process with the government.
"The local police killed a Taliban commander, Hafiz Saeed-ul-Haq when he was attending a wedding ceremony," Maulvi Mohammad Omar spokesman of Taliban Movement has reportedly claimed while talking to BBC.
It worth mentioning here that attacks on police mobiles and police stations had occurred on a number of occasions in recent past. The local Taliban had accepted the responsibility of some incidents. But, the significance of the Friday attack was that it occurred a day after halting of such activities in Pakistan by Baitullah Mehsud.
Meanwhile, the NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has condemned the bomb blast near Mardan city police station in the strongest words, and expressed his deep shock over the loss of precious lives in the incident. Hoti also announced a compensation of Rs 100,000 for those killed, Rs 50,000 for critically injured and Rs 25,000 for slightly injured.
He termed the blast a plot to derail the peace process being initiated by the provincial government, saying such acts could not deter them from their commitment towards bringing peace in the province. "We are committed to establish writ of the government and will not spare those involved in such heinous rimes," the chief minister said. Hoti expressed his full sympathies with the bereaved families and said all the resources will be utilised to bring the culprits behind the blast to justice.