ISLAMABAD/MIRANSHAH: A total of six people were killed and eight others sustained serious injuries in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast, fitted in motorcycle, in Mir Ali bazaar of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on Tuesday evening, the political administration said.
According to political administration, the IED was planted in a motorcycle parked at the roadside in Mir Ali’s busy bazaar. The bomb exploded with a loud bang when the military convoy carrying civilians passed through there, killing six people on the spot and seriously injuring eight others.
The administration said that the injured were given first aid and referred to Bannu’s District Headquarters hospital in ambulances for medical treatment.
The political administration said that the IED-fitted motorcycle was used to target the military vehicle carrying three civilian candidates for recruitment in the army. All three, along with three other civilian by-passers, were killed.
Those who were killed in the blast include Asghar Ayub Khan, Ayub Rehman, Sher Man Ullah, Noor Ayub Khan, Naheed Ullah and Munib-ur-Rehman.
The injured civilians who were shifted from Mir Ali to Bannu for medical treatment include Zahid Ullah, Munawwar Shah, Zohaib Ullah, Niaz Khan, Burhan-ud-Din, Ashiq Ullah and Khaliq Noor.
The military sources, however, said that a motorcyclist suicide attacker hit the army vehicle carrying the civilian candidates for recruitment at Mir Ali’s Khadi market. Three civilians were killed instantly, while six others sustained injuries, they added.
The sources confirmed that three civilian passing from there were also killed as a result of the blast, as there is a huge rush in the bazaar in the evening.
Soon after the blast, security forces cordoned off the area and started collecting evidence from the blast site.
