Top army commander confirms suicide bomber killed 34 in Orakzai

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PESHAWAR:  The top military commander in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Saturday confirmed that the blast in lower Orakzai Agency that killed 34 people on Friday was carried out by a suicide bomber.

Addressing reporters after visiting the blast site along with KP Governor Shah Farman and Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General Rahat Naseem, Peshawar Corps Commander Shaheen Mazhar said that the bomber had detonated 12 kilogrammes of explosives in the incident.

Addressing journalists, Governor Farman said that the terror attacks in Karachi and Orakzai tribal district “are part of the same conspiracy” and that “foreign elements are involved who want to destabilise the China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) project”.

Farman said that stern action would be taken against the culprits behind the attack.

The lower Orakzai area, formerly an agency, is situated near the Hangu district, and the explosion took place in main Kalaya bazaar of the district.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had “strongly condemned” the terrorist attack in Orakzai as well as the one foiled on the Chinese Consulate in Karachi.

He labelled the twin attacks “a planned campaign to create unrest in the country by those who do not want Pakistan to prosper”.

“Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind that we will crush the terrorists, whatever it takes,” he had affirmed on Twitter soon after the attacks.