Suicide Attack Kills Dozens and Injures Over Hundred in Peshawar

Peshawar, Pakistan: Over 80 people were killed and hundreds were injured in a suicide bomb blast this afternoon in Meena Bazaar People Mandi, Peshawar. The bomb exploded in the district of Old City. People Mandi is a market open exclusively for women and children. It is often over-crowded with customers in search for domestic appliances. Traders explained that they had received no potential bomb threat recently. It was around 2 ‘o’ clock when witnesses watched a white colored Alto approach a departmental store. The driver descended the car and walked away, explained Noor Ahmed, a shopkeeper. “A few people shouted and said there’s a bomb inside the car but it was too late.” It is believed that the car was remote controlled. Upon detonating the bomb, stores within vicinity collapsed, killing dozens under the rubble. Children are believed to be trapped under the ruins. Most bodies are left unidentified and taken to the morgue. A hundred others are severely injured. The death toll is estimated to rise. Injured people were taken to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar. The City Municipal Corporation arrived later and commenced removing rubble in order to find bodies. FC Constables have been appointed at different points of the city in order to ensure safety. President Asif Ali Zardari has condemned the attack while NWFP Chief Minister Hyder Ali Khan Hoti demanded for immediate investigation. NWFP Minister of Information vowed to ‘hunt down each and every terrorist’ so that ‘the brutality they have inflicted upon innocent civilians is avenged’. As constant fear and perpetual danger envelops Peshawar all over again, many citizens believe that the blast had been a consequence of the war going in South Waziristan. Political entities such as Imran Khan, Altaf Hussain and Rehman Malik have expressed their shock over the incident. City Municipal Officer Farid Jan explained, “It would be difficult to bring cranes on site due to the narrow streets of the bazaar. We are using whatever we can to remove the rubble and save as many lives as possible.” The reality, however, seems grimmer as the death toll rises to 91 and more than hundred innocent people remain fatally wounded.