PESHAWAR: More than a hundred tribesmen injured in a suicide attack inside a mosque in Bhigiari area of Khyber tribal agency on Friday noon were shifted to three major hospitals of the provincial metropolis.
The hospitals wore a gloomy look as agony-stricken attendants were in tears to see their relatives writhing in pain. The worried relatives of the wounded persons rushed to the hospitals to inquire after the injured, but police deployed at wards’ gates allowed only one person to stay with the wounded.
The injured were first rushed to Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), the nearest tertiary-care hospital, but due to lack of facilities to address causalities in such a large number, most of the wounded were referred to Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).
Twenty-eight victims, including three bodies were brought, to HMC, while 71 injured and seven bodies were shifted to the KTH. About 10 patients were referred to cardio-thoracic and cardio vascular wards of the LRH.
Lying on a bed in surgical ward of the KTH, Khalid Mir had received abdominal injuries. Student of first-year at Higher Secondary School Jamrud, Mir still in his blood-soaked clothes, told The News he was standing in the third row inside the hall of the mosque.
“The moment imam (prayer leader) said Allah-o-Akbar I heard a deafening sound and saw a raging flame of fire and then smoke everywhere,” he said. “Everything was falling and the entire roof caved in and I was hit by a wooden beam,” he added.
Mir said that he was a player of volleyball and he along with his friends used to play game near the mosque. “We decided to offer Friday prayer before the game, but the fate has decided something else,” Khalid Mir said. Waqif, 17, from Jamrud was lying on the next bed. He received head injuries as well as shrapnel’s bruises on his face and right foot.
Talking to The News, he said that he was standing in the first row when a loud blast occurred. “A piece of slab fell on my foot. However, I managed to remove that and take out two of my cousins injured in the attack,” he said.
“Smoke was all around and bodies as well as the injured were scattered at the scene and the children were crying for help,” he said. Bakhat Zameen, 25, a driver by profession, sustained head injuries and also shrapnel’s mark on his left cheek. He said the moment he entered the mosque the blast occurred and people fell on one another. “Soon after the blast firing was also started by locals as well as by Khassadars,” he said.
The bodies and the injured were lying on the spot for more than 20 minutes as people were panicked and shocked, he said. Asim, a Khassadar force personnel hailing from Jamrud, admitted to the emergency ward of the HMC told The News that he discharging duty at the nearby checkpoint. “My duty starts at 3pm, but I left home to reach in time to offer my ‘juma’ (Friday) prayer in the mosque and then join the duty,” he said. Asim was standing in the veranda of the mosque when the suicide bomber blew himself up, injuring his (Asim) right leg and hands.
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