Peshawar Bus Explosion Killed At least 16 people, including three women and over 30 others injured today when a powerful bomb ripped through a bus carrying government employees in this restive north western Pakistani city. The bomb placed inside the bus exploded when the vehicle packed with government employees reached Peshawar from Mardan. The bus was on Sunehri Masjid Road as it was taking civil secretariat employees for duty.

 

SSP operations Peshawar Abbas Majeed Marwat said:

“The blast targeted the bus carrying government officials”

 

He said about 50 people were on board the bus at the time of the explosion. Over 30 people were injured in the blast. The blast was caused by an Improvised explosive device planted inside the bus. About 8 kg of explosives were used in blast. The injured were shifted to Lady reading hospital. The condition of a majority of those injured was stated to be critical. Eight of the injured were admitted in ICU. The security forces and police cordoned off the entire area and started a search operation. Fear and panic spread among residents in the wake of the explosion. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

 

Policemen and rescue officials walk near a bus damaged in a bomb blast in Peshawar

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack in Peshawar. He expressed grief over the loss of precious lives in the attack. Later Sharif said,

“These cowardly attacks cannot shatter our unflinching resolve against terrorism” 

 

Attacks have fallen since the government crackdown after the 2014 Army Public School attack and the Taliban have been squeezed into small pockets of territory. However, militant groups remain able to launch sporadic attacks on security forces and civilian targets.

Last week, 17 people were killed and 31 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded court in Shabqadar Bazaar of Charsadda district near here, an attack the Taliban termed as revenge for the execution of liberal Punjab province governor Salman Taseer‘s Islamist assassin.

 

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