Bloodbath in Peshawar: at least 105 killed, 200 injured in Meena Bazaar car bombing

Cowards target women and children
* 19 women, 11 children among dead, 25 in critical condition
* 150 kgs of explosives used in attack
* Mosque, several other buildings collapse



PESHAWAR: A remote-controlled car bomb killed at least 105 people – including women and children – and injured around 200 others at the provincial capital’s Meena Bazaar on Wednesday, said officials, hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan to bolster the two countries’ alliance against Taliban and Al Qaeda.

“We have received 92 bodies and some parts of bodies and 200 injured people – including 70 women and children,” said Haider Afridi, chief executive of the Lady Reading Hospital. He said around 25 people – mostly women – were in critical condition, while only 25 bodies had so far been identified.

“Nineteen of the dead are women and 11 are children. All the dead are civilians,” Dr Zafar Iqbal told the AFP news agency as staff declared an emergency and called for blood donations.

NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain, however, said, “More than 80 people were killed ... around 200, mostly women and children, were injured in the car bomb blast.”

Bomb disposal squad chief Shafqat Malik told reporters that 150 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the remote-controlled blast. He said that some people were still trapped under the rubble.

Addressing reporters at the Lady Reading Hospital, Iftikhar linked the Meena Bazaar blast with the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan against the Taliban, saying, “foreign terrorists – including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks – stationed in Waziristan are carrying out attacks in Pashtun areas”.

In a message to foreign and local Taliban, the minister said, “We (civilians and the army) have won the war in Malakand division ... the fight against terrorism will continue and we will eliminate terrorists even if we have to pay with our lives.”

Although nobody claimed responsibility, suspicion immediately fell on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Sunia – a 14-year-old girl who was badly injured in her right leg – told Daily Times she had come to Meena Bazaar for shopping, as her sister was getting married next week. “It was a powerful blast... I saw smoke and dust everywhere. I saw body parts and people dying or screaming on the road,” another witness told Daily Times.

According to the AFP news agency, the explosion brought down buildings. Flames reached out of burning wreckage and smoke billowed over the collapsed rubble of a mosque and three buildings, where rescue workers picked charred bodies out of smouldering debris and gathered human flesh in plastic bags.

Crying for help, men tried to pull survivors from beneath wreckage. One man carried away a baby with a bloody face and a group of men rescued a young boy covered in dust, but others found only bodies of the dead.

In a bid to disperse the crowd that gathered after the blast, police fired in the air and baton charged people standing near the blast site.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Liaqat Ali told reporters that terrorists were “confused” because of the security in the city, and were – therefore – targeting public places. He said, “There was information that an explosives-laden car had entered the city.”

Mohammad Faqir, a shopkeeper at Meena Bazaar, said although people – mostly women – from the entire province and FATA visited the bazaar for shopping, there were no proper security arrangements.

According to the APP news agency, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the attack, and said the government would not rest until all terrorists had been eliminated. The prime minister said the government had launched a full-scale operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan, and “we will not be cowed down by such attacks”. He said the government was fully aware of its responsibility of protecting the lives and property of civilians, and was taking necessary measures in this context. He directed provincial authorities to investigate the matter and submit a report.

APP also reported that Senior NWFP Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour had ruled out a security lapse as the cause of the blast at the market.

Three bomb attacks have been launched in Peshawar this month, including one that killed more than 50 people. They are part of at least 10 major attacks in Pakistan.