Suicide bombers struck in the industrial town of Hub in Balochistan, and at a police training centre in Hangu and at a mosque in Kohat in NWFP, on Thursday, killing a total of 51 people and injuring several dozen others.At least 29 people, including seven police officers, were killed and around 50 injured in a suicide attack at the Gadani Bus Stop in Hub at around 8:40am, police said. “It was a suicide attack that was targeted at Chinese engineers working in Balochistan,” Tariq Masood Khosa, Balochistan’s Inspector General of Police, told Daily Times. “It is premature to say who masterminded the blast. One can’t say if it was to avenge the military operation in Jamia Hafsa or was carried out by Baloch insurgents or Taliban elements. All options are under consideration.”
Khosa said that the seven police officers had sacrificed their lives to save the engineers. “As the vehicle carrying the engineers arrived, the suicide bomber tried to strike them but the police officers moved to stop the car from coming closer,” he said. Hub police chief Ghulam Mohammed Thaib said 29 people were killed. Local police said that a 50-kilogram bomb had been fixed inside the car. “Around 300 Chinese people are working on a lead and zinc project at Dhodar area in Lasbela district. They visit the site every Thursday ... they were the main target,” said a resident.
The injured were shifted to Jinnah and Civil hospitals in Karachi while a state of emergency was declared at the local Jam Ghulam Qadir Hospital. The whole town was cordoned off and all shops, institutions and offices were shut.
The blast also damaged 10 cars and temporarily disrupted the power supply to most of Hub. Two of the destroyed vehicles belonged to the Balochistan police while one of them was that of the Chinese engineers.
The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad instructed its citizens and companies operating in Pakistan to remain “more cautious and refrain from going out unnecessarily” after the Hub blast.
Police targeted in Hangu: At least seven people were killed and 35 injured when a suicide bomber set off his explosives-packed car at the Hangu Police Training College (PTC), police said. Police official Rehman Gul Khan said the suicide bomber wanted to take his car inside the PTC on the main Hangu-Kohat Road at around 7:30 am, while 500-600 police cadets were doing their routine morning parade. Gul Khan said the attacker, riding a Suzuki car, blew the vehicle up when police personnel deployed at the PTC gate tried to stop him. He said the explosion killed a police constable, along with five civilians, and injured around 35 people including seven policemen.
Hangu District Police Officer (DPO) Ghulam Mohammad told Daily Times that the explosives weighed around 40-50 kilograms and the blast was so powerful that it scattered parts of the car nearly 450 feet away from the scene. Kohat Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Zulfiqar Cheema told reporters that the suicide attack was a continuation of the ongoing terrorist activities across the country. He said the bomber was alone and coming from the Kohat side. He added that police had collected parts of the bomberÂ’s body.
After the blast, the administration imposed an emergency in the Hangu tehsil headquarters hospital and the main Hangu road was blocked for hours.
Army mosque attacked in Kohat: At least 15 people, including a prayer leader and two children, were killed and many wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in the Pathan Lines Centre, Kohat Cantt, during Isha prayers, police said. Most of the victims were army officials. The injured were rushed to the Kohat Combined Military Hospital, where an emergency was declared. “Indirectly these attacks are a backlash reaction against the Red Mosque,” Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told AFP.