Nwaz's Declearation and A Truth of Pakistan

Peace talks won’t work. If they kill two, we must kill four

Locals try to console a family member at the hospital after the Qissa Khwani attack. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/EXPRESS

PESHAWAR: At least 38 people were killed and 100 others sustained injuries in a blast in Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani area on Sunday, a week after a bombing at a church in the city killed scores, Express News reported.

Initial reports suggest the attack’s principal target was a nearby police station. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

This is the third attack in Peshawar in the last eight days. Last Friday, at least 19 people were killed and dozens were injured when a bomb exploded inside a van carrying Civil Secretariat employees. Last Sunday, over 78 parishioners, among them 34 women and seven children, were killed and over a hundred were injured in an attack on the All Saints Church.

Injured

Rescue officials reached the blast site and shifted the injured to Lady Reading Hospital. Emergency was declared in the hospital.

Many of the injured are in critical condition.

Blast

The blast took place near a police station in the Qissa Khwani area – a place crowded with shops and families. Fire erupted soon after the explosion and at least eight shops were also damaged.

Police cordoned off the blast site, while the bomb disposal squad collected evidence. It was determined that around 200 kilogrammes of explosives were planted inside a car used in the blast.

The bomb disposal chief told AFP the evidence suggested it was a remote controlled bomb.

“In fact, the whole car, which had been parked along the roadside, was converted into a remote controlled bomb,” he said.

Target

Local officials said they did not initially believe the police station was the intended target.

“Police station does not seem to be the target as it was away from the attack site,” bomb disposal chief Shafqat Malik said.

He said, “It looks like the market was the target.”

Condemnation

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government condemned the attack and issued directives to provide facilities to those injured in the explosion.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, President Mamnoon Hussain, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Muttahida Quami Movement chief Altaf Hussain also condemned the attack.

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