Three suicide bombers killed as vest accidentally detonates

Three suicide attackers were killed when one of their bombs blew up prematurely in Kafoar Dheri area of Peshawar on Friday.

According to police officials, three terrorists riding on a motorcycle entered Peshawar from Khyber Agency through Shagai route. Shortly after entering Kafoar Dheri area, a suicide bomber accidently detonated his vest, killing himself and two others. They were planning a series of suicide bombings in the city.

SSP Cantt Kashif Zulfiqar told that two of the terrorists look like foreigners while one looked like a local. All of them were equipped with suicide vests, automatic weapons and hand grenades. Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) defused two other suicide jackets.

The blast took place at a short distance from Warsak Road where dozens of educational institutions are situated.

The incident comes two days after twin bomb blasts targeting a police patrol, killed at least one policeman and wounded 19 others in Peshawar.

Earlier, eight al Qaeda militants were killed during a raid in the central city of Multan after learning of their plans to attack a local university.

The operation, which officials said was carried out on Wednesday night after an intelligence tip-off, occurred on the city’s outskirts, a spokesman for the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab, told the media on the condition of anonymity.

“On the basis of the information, a joint team of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and CTD Multan carried out a raid at the meeting point, near the village of Nawabpur on the bank of the river Chenab in Multan, resulting in intense fire from the militants,” he said.

In 2015, Pakistan stepped up a multi-pronged offensive against Islamist and other militants through military operations, raids, as well as a crackdown on some hard-line seminaries and money laundering as part of its “National Action Plan”.

It came in the wake of a Taliban massacre at Peshawar Army School in December 2014 in which 134 children were killed.