Suicide Attack in Pakistan Kills 3, Several Wounded

At least three people were killed including two policemen and several others injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive laden vehicle into the Karak Police Station near Peshawar on Saturday. The building completely collapsed following the explosion.

According to eyewitnesses, the suicide bomber wanted to take his explosive laden pickup van into the Police Station and when the Policeman on the gate tried to stop him he rammed his vehicle into the gate causing a loud explosion. This blast also damaged a mosque next to the police station.

District Police Officer (DPO) Sajid Mohmand said, “two policemen and one civilian are killed.At least 23 people are wounded, 14 of them are Policemen. The blast also damaged a nearby mosque in the city.”

The injured were taken into the nearby hospitals where most of them are stated to be in stable condition.

There were two suicide bombers. One blew him up at the gate of police station, killing a policeman there. And, “another suicide bomber brought his vehicle with explosives into the building and blew him up, killing a child and a coach driver,” DPO said confirming, “the attacker detonated his pick up van at the gate of the main police station in Karak town.”

Relief operation was immediately initiated by the rescue workers. Bomb disposal squad and other law enforcing agencies have started their investigations.

The injured were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Karak , some of them are listed in critical condition. Hospital sources have confirmed the death of three victims, while the number of casualties is feared to rise. Local hospital doctor Nazrul Islam said, “We have received three bodies and 26 wounded.”

Karak is a district in the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. It is situated to the south of Kohat District and on the north side of Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts on the main Indus Highway between Peshawar and Karachi. It is 123 km from the provincial capital Peshawar.

While it lies between violence hit areas of Lakki Marwat and Kohat, this was the first suicide attack in the area. The local people said the incident is first of its kind in Karak history.

District Karak has been known for its literacy rate. It has the highest literacy rate after Islamabad and Wah. Since both Islamabad and Wah are mainly composed of temporarily migrated people, therefore Karak is ranked as the highest educated district.

There have been no claim for the responsibility of this attack. But the militants to avenge the military operations in the tribal areas have targeted several times the police force, security forces and government offices.

A week later two police stations were targeted in the northwestern district of Mansehra, killing an area police chief and wounding several officers.