At least six people including a woman and a child
were killed and 10 others injured in a blast that took place Sunday
morning in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan,
reported local Urdu TV
channel Dunya.
According to the report, the blast occurred at about 9:30 a.m. when
a bomb fixed to a pickup car went off near a bus stand at the Matni
bazaar of the city. Initial investigation showed it was a remote
control blast, said the report.
Security forces have cordoned off the area and rescue work is
underway. All the injured people have been shifted to nearby hospital.
Shortly following the blast, both Pakistani president and prime minister condemned the terrorist attack.
The blast in Peshawar is the second of its kind reported on Sunday
in the country. Earlier an explosion which took place in the wee hours
of Sunday in Pakistan's eastern city of Gujranwala reportedly killed
four people and injured 21 others.
No group has claimed responsibility for both blasts.
Local watchers believed the two blasts could be related to the killing of a local terrorist group leader on Friday.
Late Friday night, the U.S. fired three missiles at a house in the
Wana area of South Waziristan, killing nine militants and injuring 22
others. It later turned out an important militant leader named Ilyas
Kashmiri was also killed in the strike.
Ilyas Kashmiri is the chief of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami (HJI), a
terrorist group affiliated to al-Qaida. He is one of the five most
wanted terrorists by the United States. The 47-year-old HJI chief is
believed to be a mastermind of a number of terrorist attacks in the
country including the recent attack at a naval air force in Karachi.
The May 22 attack at the PNS Mehran naval air base in Karachi left
two U.S.-made P3C Orion surveillance planes and one helicopter
destroyed and over 10 security personnel killed.
Local watchers believed that the two blasts on Sunday in Pakistan
could be a prelude of more possible attacks in the future following the
killing of Ilyas Kashmiri.Xinhua
