A bomb tore through a vehicle in Sepoy village of Orakzai Agency on Wednesday, killing 14 Shias of the same family, including three children. A faction of the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the victims were targeted because of their faith. Senior administration official Zakir Hussain said, “It was a remote-controlled bomb planted on the road. The bomb exploded near a pick-up van carrying passengers.” Eight people were killed on the spot and six died in a state-run hospital in Kohat, Hussain told AFP, adding that the dead included three women, two 11-year-old boys and a three-year-old girl.
All the victims were part of the same family. “It was a militant attack, the aim was to create panic in the area by killing ordinary people,” Hussain said. Security forces and members of a peace committee rushed to the spot to cordon off the area and took the bodies and the injured to Kohat District Hospital. Doctor Mohammad Naeem confirmed the toll and said an 11-year-old boy with serious injuries was transferred to Peshawar for specialist care. A spokesman of the Darra Adam Khel faction of the Taliban claimed responsibility for the bomb attack. “We targeted them because they were Shias, and they are enemies of Islam,” spokesman Mohammed Afridi told Reuters by telephone. “This appears to be part of a series of attacks by militants against one particular sect,” said Khushal Khan, a senior government official in Orakzai. The security forces have launched an investigation into the blast and have started searching for the perpetrators.