Car bomb kills 16 near police complex in Kohat

Source Dawn

Sixteen people including women and children were killed and more than 50 wounded in a car bomb attack targeting a police headquarters in Kohat on Tuesday.


Six policemen were among the dead in the latest attack and police said the other victims were women and children who were breaking their fast in the garrison city, close to the lawless tribal areas of Khyber and Orakzai.

“It was a car bomb blast, we are investigating whether the car was parked or was exploded by a suicide bomber,” Khalid Khan, a top administrative official in Kohat, told AFP.

“Six children, four women and six policemen died.” The toll was confirmed by a senior police official in Kohat, Dilawar Bangash, who said that 54 people were wounded.

A police residential complex was severely damaged and houses nearby had also collapsed, trapping people in the rubble.

Rescue workers were facing difficulties as electricity was suspended after the blast.

There was no claim of responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban has been blamed for similar bombings.