At least 15 people were killed and 37 others injured in a suicide bombing in a funeral procession in the Badhaber area of Peshawar on Sunday. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Deputy Speaker Khushdil Khan escaped the attack as he had left the venue just minutes earlier. Per details, a suicide bomber detonated the explosives attached to his body at a graveyard where the burial was to take place. After the attack, locals shifted the injured to hospitals and rescue teams rushed to the site and helped shift the injured and bodies to hospitals across Peshawar. Doctors at Lady Reading Hospital confirmed receiving 37 injured.
Police have confirmed that the bombing was a suicide attack wherein six to eight kilogrammes of explosives were used. They said that Khushdil Khan appeared to be the target of the attack. Provincial Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain said the Taliban wanted to build up pressure for getting an Afghan Taliban-like status, therefore, they had intensified terrorist acts in the province. He added that TTP militants from Darra Adam Khel and Lashkar-e-Islam had recently entered into a reconciliatory pact and had enhanced violent activities.
Iftikhar said that US contacts with the Afghan Taliban was having a positive impact in Pakistan, as a major militant group was ready for talks with the government. “But the militants loyal to Hakeemullah Mehsud are unhappy and they are trying to sabotage such developments,” he added. Earlier, Peshawar administration chief Mohammad Siraj said the death toll from the incident had gone up to 15. “The latest toll is 15 dead and 37 wounded,” he told reporters.
Doctor Rahim Jan, head of Lady Reading Hospital, confirmed the casualties. “We received nine bodies from the blast site and six died later in the hospital,” Jan said, adding that many of the wounded were in a serious condition. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
