An explosion in a house in the outskirts of Peshawar killed three men who police said were making bombs when the explosives detonated prematurely. The blast occurred at about 5am on Wednesday, in the guestroom of a house located in the Badshah Dak area of Tauheed Colony in Phandu police precincts. Gulbahar Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ijaz Khan told Daily Times the blast was apparently caused by dynamite. “Initial evidence suggests that they were suicide attackers,” police officer Farid Shah told AP. “They were preparing for an attack but the explosion occurred.” DSP Ijaz Khan said the men were likely involved in an earlier attack on music shops in the Afridiabad area.
He said police had detained one Ismail, originally from Lakary of Mohmand Agency, who had rented the house. The dead men included IsmailÂ’s brother-in-law Saadullah and cousin Ali Rehman. The third body could not be identified. AFP said the men were 20 to 30 years old. Police seized a hand grenade, 10 kilogrammes of explosives, a pistol, three mobile phones, a dairy and religious literature from the house.
Awas Gul, a neighbour, told Daily Times that Ismail had been living in the house for a year and his cousin Ali Rehman, who died in the explosion, visited him often. Ismail was a regular visitor to the localityÂ’s mosque, he said, and nobody suspected him of being a terrorist.
Earlier, two music shops were damaged in a bomb explosion at around 3am in the Afridiabad. No casualties were reported. Police officials said that the shops were no longer selling music CDs. They said the owner of one of the shops had begun selling kebabs in his shop following violence against video and music stores.
