The provincial capital has suffered 18 terrorist attacks since the launch of the military operation in Swat

PESHAWAR: The provincial capital has suffered 18 terrorist attacks since the launch of the military operation in Swat and rest of the Malakand division in April 2009.

The blast at the Pearl Continental (PC) hotel on June 9 was the deadliest that killed 17 people and injured over 50 others. Besides, the explosion, triggered with over 500 kilograms of explosives and mortar shells, severely affected the image of the city as foreign missions and organisations either restricted movement of their staff or shifted them to Islamabad.

Terrorists struck at the provincial metropolis and a nearby town thrice in a day, two days after the PC blast. The provincial minister for prisons, Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel, sustained injuries when militants attempted to kidnap or kill the NWFP government cabinet member while on way from his hometown of Karak to Peshawar.

A police party on Ring Road near Charsadda Road was first attacked with a hand grenade and later hit by a suicide bomber, killing one person and injuring eight policemen on the same day. Terrorists continue to laugh at the security arrangements in the city that day when they exchanged fire with security personnel just outside the residence of corps commander Peshawar, one of the most protected parts of the province.

Intelligence reports about tasking terrorists to hit any target in Peshawar are being received on a daily basis. The situation has resulted in erecting barricades on almost all the main entry points to the city and cantonment, causing inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of Peshawarites everyday.

Apart from the inconvenience, the dwellers of the city are fearful of everyday terrorism incidents. This has forced many to change their planning, as they fear a bleak future of the city ahead, if the rulers of the country and the province did not succeed in stamping out the terrorism.

Peshawar has proved out to be a soft target for terrorists since 2004. However, the ongoing wave of terror has intensified with the launch of military operation in Swat. Peshawarites started to bear the brunt of the army action on May 8 when three rockets were fired at the city international airport.

A police van was reportedly attacked by the terrorists in Chamkani on May 12 when the cops were transporting some militants. Police not only foiled the attack, but also managed to gun down five assailants, including a commander of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Nato container terminals on Ring Road were attacked twice in mid May, torching several trailers and containers.

A suicide attack on FC camp near Matani killed 11 persons, including security personnel on May 11 while a huge blast ripped through the crowded Barrisco Bazaar near Aasya Gate on May 14, leaving 12 dead and dozens of others injured. The same day another explosion occurred in the congested Jinnah Street, or Gora Bazaar, in the Peshawar cantonment that killed a minor girl and wounded four others.

A high-intensity blast outside the Tasveer Mahal Cinema on Cinema Road on May 21 killed another 12 people. Over 65 people, mostly labourers, were injured in the explosion that destroyed the cinema building and nearby buildings.

Terror struck the city again on May 28 with twin blats in Qissa Khwani and a suicide attack on a police post in Sra Khawra on Kohat Road in quick succession. A total of nine people were killed in these terrorist attacks.

On June 3, a school was blown up in Salmankhel area while a police van was blown up and its driver killed in another attack on the police party in Hazarkhwani on June 8. The provincial capital is literally under siege where dwellers fear anything can happen to their lives and families. Though strict security measures have been taken in and around the city to protect its almost three million population, terrorist continue to break into Peshawar and hit sensitive targets right under the nose of the security agencies.