Seventeen people including a woman were injured in a car bomb blast in high security cantonment area here on Saturday. The provincial government announced cash compensation of Rs 50,000 for seriously injured and Rs 25,000 for minor injury victims of the incident.
The bomb, planted in a Suzuki Alto, went up with a big bang at 11:15 am and damaged five other vehicles in front of Askari Commercial Bank on busy Fakhr-e-Alam Road. Window panes of almost all nearby buildings were also broken. According to Capital City Police, the bomb with 12 to 14 kg explosive material was detonated through a time device.
The victims were rushed to Combined Military Hospital (CMH), where the condition of some was said to be critical. NWFP Minister for Information Asif Iqbal Daudzai attributed the incident to the policies of the federal government. He said that federal government is fighting the war of other people on their soil.
He said that inquiry would be conducted into the incident. NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai strongly condemned the blast and said that such subversive activities were meant to disturb the peaceful atmosphere and create a state of anarchy in the country.
He said that elements involved in such heinous crimes were neither serving the cause of Islam nor were they interested in wellbeing of the nation. Rather, they are enemies of humanity. The Governor expressed confidence that the law enforcing agencies would shortly succeed in apprehending the culprits and bring them to justice.
PPI adds: At least 24 persons, including five military men, were injured in the blast. An official of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) told reporters that the bomb was local made and had high intensity. The injured included a retired Major, Imtiazul Haq. Other army men were identified as Lance Naik Abdul Hameed, Lance Naik Mohammad Azhar, Lance Naik Mohammad Hanif and Havildar Allah Bakhash.
The civilian injured were identified as Salman, Sami, Safir Ahmed, Hasan Rehman, Sikandar Hayat, Zeshan, Shaukat Hayat, Nasar Khan, Naveed, Mohammad Iqbal, Khalid Khan, Mrs Khalid, Waqar Younas, Junaid Akhtar, Bakht Rawan, Fazl Akbar, Umar Khayam, and Saleem Fairooz.