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| India-Pakistan | |||
| 65 killed in twin suicide attacks in Mohmand Agency | |||
| 2010-07-10 | |||
The dead included five khasadars, two political moharrars and five members of a family, while over 100 shops and more than two dozen vehicles were destroyed in the explosions. According to AFP, the force of the explosives collapsed flimsy wooden roofs of more than two dozen shops, twisted shutters and snapped off doors. The Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) Mohmand chapter claimed responsibility for the attacks. The first bomber, riding a motorbike, hit the main boundary wall of the political offices of the Yakka Ghund tehsil, while the second attacker, driving an explosives-laden coach, hit the main offices, which also included a sub-jail in the premises. Resultantly, the entire building collapsed, killing 65 people and injuring 110 others. Thirty-five prisoners fled from the prison, four of whom were recovered later. The bomber rammed the vehicle, as hundreds of tribal elders had gathered around the office of Rasool Khan, the Mohmand assistant political agent, for a meeting. None was hurt, according to Amjad Ali Khan. Among the wounded were several people displaced due to the military operation, who were collecting relief goods near the blast site. Residents said five children, aged between five and 10, and several women were among those dead. The injured were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital and those critically-wounded were shifted to Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital. Meanwhile, TTP Mohmand spokesman Ikramullah told reporters on telephone from an undisclosed location that their targets were the offices of the political administration and the local peace committee, which had arranged an anti-Taliban jirga there. We have no enmity with the people, he added. "Our intentions were to stop the holding of the anti-Taliban jirga," Ikramullah said.
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| Posted by:Steve White |