Twin blasts in Peshawar cinema kill five, injure above 20

As many as five persons were killed and more than 20 others injured when two hand grenades went off on Sunday during the screening of a late-night movie show at the Picture House cinema in Peshawar.

The last show of the day of the Pashto movie, ‘Ziddi Pakhtun’ was in progress in the cinema located on the Cinema Road near Kabuli when one blast took place at around 9:00pm. It was followed by another explosion within no time, eyewitnesses said.

They added that there was panic in the crowded cinema hall as the lights went out due to the blasts and those wounded were heard crying for help in the dark. Reports suggested that the attackers hurled two hand-grenades inside the movie theatre where around 200 people were watching the film. The grenades went off in quick succession causing panic among the movie-goers. There was a mad scramble for the exit as smoke filled the hall.

Five persons were reported killed and over 20 others sustained injuries. The injured were shifted to the nearby Lady Reading Hospital, where an emergency was declared soon after the blast.

The bomb disposal unit was called to the site of the blasts soon after the incident. Officials said there were threats to the old Picture House cinema since a low-intensity blast had wounded three persons there last year.

Several cinema halls in Peshawar have been demolished in recent years as the business has suffered due to a big drop in the number of movie-goers in the face of threats.