At least seven people were killed in targeted attacks on tribal elders in Mohmand Agency and a car bombing in Peshawar on Monday. Four people were killed when militants attacked the houses of two tribal elders in Safi tehsil of Mohmand. Officials said dozens of militants attacked the houses of Malik Ghazi Gul and Malik Mian Gulab in the agency’s Ziarat Masud village. The militants first hurled hand grenades on the houses followed by indiscriminate firing. Gul was seriously injured, while his 12-year-old son was killed in the attack. Mian Gulab escaped unhurt, but his son, brother and a nephew were killed in the attack, while several women were left injured. Later, security forces shelled suspected hideouts of militants in retaliation, however, there were no reports of casualties. Later in the day, three people, including a child, were reportedly killed in a car bomb blast targeting a local anti-Taliban leader just outside Peshawar, police said.
The bombing outside the compound of Altaf Khan in the restive Matni area of Peshawar also injured seven others and damaged a boundary wall and shops in the street, they said. “At least three people were killed and seven others were injured,” senior police official Kalam Khan told AFP, confirming the blast came from a car bomb. “A nine-year-old child is also among the dead,” Khan said. Peshawar’s bomb disposal chief Hukam Khan said up to 50 kilogrammes of explosives were packed in the car that was detonated remotely.