Suicide attack , kills five, 47 injured
[15.Jul.2010 - 18:20]Swat; Suicide attack on military convoy, kills five, 47 injured
Thursday, 15.07.2010
Mingora: A suicide attack targeted a Pakistani military convoy on Thursday, killing five people in the northwestern Swat valley where the army put down a Taliban uprising last year.
It was the deadliest attack in the district since February and underscored lingering insecurity in a region that until a major military operation last year was largely outside government control and paralysed by Taliban militants.
The bombing came as the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers in Islamabad held their first substantive talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks - which New Delhi blamed on Pakistani militants - torpedoed their peace process.
Anwar Khan, 40, who runs a general store in Mingora, said he was outside asking someone not to park in front of his shop when the bomb exploded.
´´I felt something very hot pierce my shoulder. A red, bloody piece of flesh hit my right cheek and after that I passed out,´´ he told AFP by telephone after having shrapnel extracted from his shoulder in hospital.
The bomber detonated in a busy street outside a bus terminal, littering the road with burnt out vehicles and sparking a frantic rescue effort.
Police said five people were killed, including two women and a couple visiting from Pakistan´s central province of Punjab, in a normally busy street outside a bus terminal while a military convoy was driving past.
´´Two legs of the suicide bomber were found,´´ Swat police chief Qazi Ghulam Farooq told AFP.
Television footage showed volunteers carrying at least one body away from the site, while others frantically pulled at the twisted doors to rescue two victims sitting in the front seats of one non-military vehicle.
Hospital officials said 47 people were wounded, including four women and seven children. Most of them had fractured bones and head injuries.
A military spokesman said the army had been the target and that two security force personnel were wounded.
´´The target were army vehicles,´´ he told AFP by telephone.
Mingora is 125 kilometres (80 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad and the main town in Swat, a mountain valley of enormous natural beauty that was once a popular tourist destination for Pakistanis and Westerners.
Chief Minister KPK condemns the attack
Peshawar: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has condemned the suicide blast in Mingora in strong words and expressed profound grief over the loss of precious lives.
The Chief Minister issued directives for better treatment of the injured in the hospital and probe of the incident. In his condolence message, Haider Khan Hoti termed the dastardly act of terrorism in densely populated area of Mingora as an effort for spreading fear in the area and sabotaging steps of the government for promotion of tourism in the area. However, he further said that the gallant people of Swat are with the security forces for elimination of terrorists from the area and they are committed for thwarting their evil designs. The CM Pakhtunkhwa expressed solidarity with the affected families and assured that the culprits involved in shedding the blood of innocent people will not be spared.
Hoti said that the terrorists are on the run due to successful operation of the security forces and unity and concord of the gallant people. He said that writ of the government has been established in Swat and life is moving on with full bloom. The chief minister prayed for peace in heaven of the deceased, grant of courage for the affected families and speedy health of the injured. The chief minister also added that heirs of the shuhadas and the injured would be compensated.- Khyber Watch
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