33 killed, 60 hurt in Kohat suicide attack

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Thirty-three people were killed and 60 others sustained injuries in a suicide car bombing in Katcha Pakha bazaar near here on Friday for which a little-known sectarian militant organisation, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Almi, claimed responsibility.

The explosion also brought down a two-storey hotel and about 25 nearby shops besides partially damaging other properties. The bomb went off at the busy intersection in Katcha Pakha bazaar in Astarzai union council area on the main Kohat-Hangu Road. The suicide bomber blew his double-cabin up at 10:00am when the small bazaar was thronged by shoppers.

It killed 33 people, majority of whom were buried under the debris of the hotel and shops that collapsed due to the impact of the explosion. Eyewitnesses said that human limbs were lying scattered at the place of the occurrence and some of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition. They said besides the two-storey hotel, 25 shops razed to the ground and about 16 vehicles were destroyed. The blast caused an eight-foot deep and 12-foot wide crater on the roadside.

Maulana Rauf, chief of the shadowy Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Almi, said his organisation carried out the attack. He also warned of more attacks in future. It is believed that the group is linked to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi of Maulana Haq Nawaz.

The organisation has reportedly said that the attack was in revenge for the death of a prominent religious leader, Maulana Muhammad Amin, the chief of the Sunni Supreme Council and renowned religious scholar, who was killed when his house and Madrassa was bombed in Hangu in June.

NWFP Inspector General Police (IGP) Malik Naveed Khan told a private TV channel that the incident might be the reaction to the ongoing military operation against the militants in Hangu district and the bordering Orakzai tribal agency.

The Kohat police spokesman, Fazal Naeem, however, termed the incident part of the ongoing wave of militancy and said that a clean-up operation was already under way in the area. The residents of Astarzai waited long for machinery and rescue team to help lift the debris and pull bodies out of the rubble, but shovels could not reach the place till 5:00 pm. However, local people rescued some victims themselves.

The injured were rushed to the Kohat Development Authority (KDA), the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and the Astarzai hospital. The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Kohat Abdullah Khan and the district police officer (DPO) rushed to the site along with the bomb disposal squad and the Rescue 15 team. The police also recovered some body parts of the suicide bomber and sent them to the forensic laboratory in Peshawar for tests. The engine and some other parts of the double-cabin vehicle used in the suicide attack were taken into custody which may provide help in the investigation.

The bomb disposal squad said that 150 kgs of explosives were used in the blast. An enraged mob gathered at the site of the blast and pelted the police team with stones, damaging some of the police vehicles. However, Army personnel cordoned off the area and brought the situation under control.

The police officials said most of the bodies could not be identified because of the extent of the mutilations. Those identified were: Qayyum Ali, Zareen Khan, Iftikhar Hussain, Sher Muhammad Ishaq, Abdus Samad, Nihar Hussain, Dost Ali, Rahman Ali, Shakeel, Mujahid, Jameel and Saddat Ali. The injured included: Nazim Ali, Akram Ali, Arbab Ali, Sirat Ali, Said Muhammad, Taqi Hussain, Gul Hussain, Hamid Ali, Sharbat Khan, Gul Wali, Haider Hussain, Syed Inayat and Nushad Ali. The police also said that majority of the victims belonged to Katcha Pakha area.

Later, at the burial of one of the dead, Jameel, his rivals attacked the funeral and killed three members of his family in Boraka village. The cause of the incident was said to be old enmity. Meanwhile, NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti announced Rs 0.3 million, and Rs 100,000, respectively, for the deceased and injured.