Car bomb kills 17 in Jamrud

* Dozens other wounded as the bomb goes off near a bus queue at a market

* Four women along with children among those killed

* No immediate claim of responsibility

Staff Report

LANDIKOTAL: At least 17 people were killed and more than sixty injured in a car blast in Jamrud bazaar near a bus queue on Monday.

Forty-five critically wounded people were rushed to the Peshawar Complex Hospital where some of them were reported serious, hospital and administration sources said. Women and children were also among those killed, sources said. Twenty-one cars and seven shops were destroyed in the blast. According to local sources, explosive material had been placed in a car which had reportedly been parked in front of a market near the compound of the political administration at about 10am.

Doctor Sameen Jan Shinwari at the Agency Headquarters hospital in Jamrud said, “Four women were among those killed in the blast and they were all Afghans. These women were coming from the border in a hired car, which was completely destroyed. These women’s Afghan passports were found in a bag.” The explosion was so huge and powerful that it was heard in far-flung areas in Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency. Security forces and Khasadar Force personnel rushed to the site soon after the explosion that killed seventeen persons, including women and children.

More than sixty persons were reported wounded and forty-five of them were taken to Peshawar Complex Hospital. Sources also said that twenty-one cars and seven shops were badly destroyed in the blast. The wounded persons were taken to Peshawar because of lack of the facilities in Jamrud Civil Hospital, the sources added. Security forces cordoned off the area and also fired in the air to disperse onlookers to prevent casualties in the event of another blast.

The Pak-Afghan Highway and Jamrud bazaar were also closed as a precautionary measure. Fire fighters, volunteers of Al-Khidmat Foundation, ambulances and local volunteers rushed to the blast site to rescue the injured. Many suspected people were arrested from Jamrud bazaar but the authorities did not confirm. The top administrator of Khyber Agency, Political Agent Motahir Zeb and his subordinates visited the site of the blast and reviewed the situation.

“The terrorists can not demoralise the people, government and security forces by carrying out such deadly actions,” Zeb observed. He said that the car blast was a result of the military operation in the area, but the operation would be continue until the situation is totally brought under control and peace is restored in the area, particularly in Bara and Jamrud. While strongly condemning the attack, he assured every possible support to the injured citizens, saying the victims would be compensated at the earliest. No militant group had claimed responsibility for the car blast until the filing of this report.

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