At least two people were killed and another suffered injuries in a suicide blast which took place near the Board Bazaar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Peshawar on Sunday morning (Mar 10), said officials.
Rescue 1122 Spokesperson Bilal Faizi confirmed that two people were killed and another one was injured, as reported by Dawn.
He said that the dead bodies and wounded were shifted to the Khyber Teaching Hospital.
Explosives planted in motorcycle
“As per preliminary and unconfirmed reports, explosives were planted in a motorcycle parked in the area,” said the official, adding that the police have cordoned off the blast site and a rescue operation is underway.
As per SSP Operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi, the blast was a ‘suicide’ attack. However, no militant group has till now claimed responsibility for the blast.
Speaking to the media, Peshawar Senior Superintendent of Police (Operation) Kashif Aftab Abbasi said officials of the Counter Terrorism Department as well as other law enforcement agencies reached the site and have been collecting evidence.
“We have found an almost mutilated body and a damaged motorcycle here,” Abbasi said, adding that an investigation is being carried out to understand the nature of the blast.
In the past year, there has been an increase in terror activities in Pakistan, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the ceasefire was ended by the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan with the government in November 2022.
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The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said a day earlier that 10 militants were killed in two different operations carried out by North Waziristan district’s security forces.
It stated that Pakistan hoped that the Afghan government would fulfil its obligations and stop terrorists from using Afghan soil.
As per an annual security report, issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan has faced 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations in 2023 which led to 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries, marking a record six-year high.
KP and Balochistan have remained the primary centres of violence which account for more than 90 per cent of all fatalities and 84 per cent of attacks.
(With inputs from agencies)
