Five injured after two bombs go off at Ajmal Khattak’s under-construction mausoleum

The Express Tribune

Two successive blasts at the under construction mausoleum of former Awami National Party chief Ajmal Khattak on Grand Trunk Road, Akora Khattak, in Nowshera left five people injured, officials said on Wednesday evening. According to details, Nowshera police were trying to clear people gathered at the site of a bomb explosion at the under construction mausoleum of Ajmal Khattak. As the people, and journalists were being asked to leave, another improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in the same graveyard. Five people including three journalists were injured. “Chaos broke after the second explosion took place,” Siddique, an eyewitness told The Express Tribune. “Neither the police nor journalists went close to the area after the explosion.” An official of the bomb disposal unit said that around four kilograms of explosives were used to carry out the first attack while approximately a two kilogram IED caused the second explosion. Nowshera police said that investigations were still underway into the incident. Condemnations from various factions and sectors poured in. The injured were rushed to District Headquarters Nowshera hospital. Earlier, a bomb went off at the under-construction mausoleum of famous Pushto poet and a former Member National Assembly, late Ajmal Khattak on Grand Trunk (GT) road, Akora Khattak area of Nowshera, badly damaging the structure. No loss of life was reported in the incident, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack thus far. Police have arrested the guard of the building and are currently interrogating him. Police said that initially five armed people approached the under construction building of the mausoleum and over-powered the guard. He was tied with a rope before the armed men placed explosive devices inside the building which went off with a big bang. Up to 80 per cent of the mausoleum was damaged. “They were five people who came to the area and planted bombs there and fled the area after the explosion,” said a police official of the local police station while talking to The Express Tribune. The provincial government had provided a Rs10 million grant for the construction of building at the grave of late Ajmal Khattak. The grave is situated along the main Grand Trunk (GT) road in a graveyard. They said that the move was aimed at creating unrest among the local people. Ajmal Khattak was the former president of Awami National Party (ANP) and a former MNA. He died of illness on February 7, 2010 in Peshawar. Last month, an anonymous threatening letter was found at the shrine of Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan which warned of ‘dire consequences’ if some rituals were not abolished. Security was beefed up after the letter was received. Similarly, a letter was received last year followed by two terrorist attacks at the shrine that killed more than 55 people and injured over 150. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the attacks.