At least five people, including a child, were killed and 29 others injured on Tuesday in a powerful car bomb suicide attack by the Taliban targeting a senior military officer in Peshawar.
A senior police official said the target of the bombing appeared to be Brigadier Khalid Javed, the second most senior officer in the Frontier Corps force, who escaped unhurt. City police chief Ijaz Khan who visited the spot of the bombing said "five people including an FC solider were killed. A woman and a child were also among those killed."
Twenty-nine people were also injured in the suicide blast attack. Khan said the bomb was planted in another car which was parked on the road. Gunfire was also reported from the area after the blast and windows of nearby buildings and cars were shattered.
Bomb disposal squad official Shafqat Malik said 45 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the blast. He said mortar shells were also put in with the explosives to increase the impact of the blast. Television footage showed the wreckage of the car used for the suicide bombing.
An emergency was declared at Lady Reading hospital. Security forces reached the spot soon after the incident, cordoned off the area and started their initial investigation. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan strongly condemned attack. President of Awami National Party Asfandyar Wali Khan also condemned the blast.
The Pakistani Taliban faction led by Maulanah Fazlullah claimed responsibility for the attack, vowing revenge against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz for a military operation in the northwest.
More than 1,000 militants have been killed in the operation. Meanwhile, at least 42 militants were killed when Pakistani military jets pounded militant hideouts in the restive North Waziristan province, the army said.
Military jets targeted militant hideouts in Dandi Kachkol, Gurbaz and Mana areas of North Waziristan and killed 19 militants, the army said in a statement. Another 23 militants were killed on Monday in air-strikes by the Pakistani army, the statement added.
Image: A police officer collects evidence from the site of a bomb attack on a Frontier Corps convoy in Peshawar. Photograph: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters
