At least seven people were killed and 39 injured in a suicide attack on a police station on Peshawar’s University Road on Wednesday. Police believe that the suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into the main gate of the building housing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at 4:38am. They believe the small truck contained at least 200-250 kilogrammes of explosives. The bombing razed the three-storey building, just 150 metres from the US consulate. The area houses military families and security is normally tight.
Constable Farid Khan, who had his shoulder fractured in the attack and was admitted to a hospital, told AFP that he was saying his morning prayers inside the police station when a deafening explosion took place. “The roof of the building collapsed,” he said, adding that he had been pinned down because of his injury until his colleagues took him to hospital. “It was a huge blast which completely destroyed the three-storey building,” police official Muhammad Ijaz said. Windowpanes of nearby houses and other buildings in the surrounding areas were also damaged.
The Anti-Terrorism Directorate (CID) Police Station is also adjacent to Special Services Group Paratroopers. The SSG complex was also partially damaged. Soon after the explosion, squads of armed forces and police force rushed to the site and closed the main road for traffic. Officials said that a number of police personnel were still missing and condition of several of the injured was stated to be critical. The TTP claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was their fourth reprisal for the May 2 death of Osama bin Laden. “We claim responsibility for the attack in Peshawar,” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
“We will further step up these attacks to avenge Osama bin Laden’s martyrdom,” he said, adding, “These attacks will continue until the US drone strikes and ongoing military operations are stopped in the tribal regions.” Superintendent of Police Shafiullah Khan confirmed the death toll at seven. The killed, included six policemen and one jawan of the armed forces, he said. The dead were identified as Hamid Hussain, Shafqat, Sardar Alam, Niazur Rehman and Zakir and Maqsood Alam from the SSG. The missing policemen include Asim, Aziz, Inspector Imtiaz and Rizwan.
