At least 32 people were killed and more than 52 injured in a massive bombing outside a police station in Hangu late on Thursday evening. The origin of the explosion was yet to be determined, with the Kohat commissioner saying it was a car bombing and police calling it a suicide attack.
The explosion damaged the District Coordination Office, District Police Office and several other government installations, banks, the city press club, private residences and shops. Kohat Commissioner Sahibzada Mohammad Anees told Pakistan Today that it was a car bombing which took place on the main Hangu-Parachinar Road on the outskirts of the city. Anees said the dead included a policeman. Police officials later said it was suicide car bombing, in which around 450 kilogrammes of high-intensity explosive material were used. Eyewitnesses said the explosion was extremely intense and most of the victims were killed on the spot. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have claimed responsibility for the attack.
CHECKPOST ATTACKED: Separately, Taliban fired a mortar bomb at a military checkpost in Miranshah, North Waziristan, but there were no casualties, Reuters quoted intelligence officials as saying. “It missed the post and we have no reports of any casualties,” an intelligence official in the region said. The main market in the town closed down and security forces fired shots in the air after the attack, residents said.