Explosion at Peshawar police check post

TrendPK.com

PESHAWAR: Tension prevailed in Hayatabad after an explosion heard at a police check post on Sunday.

The explosive material was kept in a bicycle that exploded.

No causalities reported in the incident.

Sources told media that two unidentified people left the bicycle and fled from the place.

There was no one at the check post at the time of explosion.

The check post is damaged slightly. TrendPK

Suicide bomber kills four near Peshawar

PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber killed an Islamist militant commander in northwest Pakistan who had escaped two previous assassination attempts, and three other people on Monday, police said.

The attack damaged a house that commander Haji Akhunzada was building in Pakha Ghulam on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan’s main northwestern city that borders Taliban and Al-Qaeda strongholds near the Afghan border.

He was considered a significant force within Ansar ul-Islam, a homegrown group based in the lawless tribal district of Khyber, and had moved to Peshawar after escaping two other failed attacks in the past.

“It was a suicide attack, four people have been killed. Haji Akhunzada is among the dead,” Imtiaz Shah, a senior police officer, told AFP.

A bomb disposal official said it was a suicide attack.

“Evidence collected from site shows that a suicide bomber was involved,” Hukam Khan told AFP.

Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, blamed rival militant group, Lashkar-e-Islam for Monday’s killings. Lashkar-e-Islam is another homegrown militant group in Khyber led by warlord Mangal Bagh.

Khyber is part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt that is a hub for rival Islamist militant groups including the Taliban and Al-Qaeda affiliates.

Siraj Ahmad, the top government official in Peshawar, told AFP that Akhunzada and his son-in-law were among the dead.

The bomber was dropped off by a motorcyclist, then walked to the house under construction and detonated his vest, Ahmad added.

Ansar ul-Islam and Lashkar-e-Islam have a history of killing each other’s fighters, police said.

Despite a relative lull in recent months, Islamist bombers and gunmen have killed more than 4,800 across Pakistan since government troops raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.

According to an AFP tally, bomb attacks killed 1,118 people in 2010 and 818 in 2011. So far in 2012, 68 people have died in such violence.

It was the first bombing in Pakistan since 16 Shiite Muslim worshippers were killed in the central district of Rahim Yar Khan on January 15, coming three weeks after 35 people were killed in the Jamrud town of Khyber on January 10. AGENCIES

11 miners feared dead in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: At least 11 miners were feared dead after a landslide trapped them in a phosphate mine in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said.

The incident took place when miners were having lunch inside the mine in the mountainous Tarnawi area, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) northeast of the garrison city of Abbottabad, where US troops shot dead Osama bin Laden last May.

“It was a huge landslide. Eleven of them are trapped and their survival will be a miracle,” Syed Imtiaz Hussain, the top government official in Abbottabad, told AFP.

Hussain said continuous rain was hampering rescue efforts.

Local police said the men who were trapped were poor labourers and that local residents were digging with shovels to help rescue them.

Mines in Pakistan are notorious for poor safety standards.

At least 43 workers were killed last March when explosions triggered a collapse in a coal mine in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province. AGENCIES

Two Eids: Unofficial Reut committee meets in Peshawar

 Unofficial Ruet-e-Halal Committee has called its session in Peshawar to sight Shawal moon today.

The committee will meet at Masjid Qasim Ali, with Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai in the chair. The session will begin after evening prayers, and will be attended by members of the committee and ulema.

Official central and zonal Ruet-e-Halal meetings will be held tomorrow.

The Afghan immigrants living in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa have decided to celebrate Eid with Saudi Arabia.

Trains failing to catch up with schedule

In the holy month of Ramzan, the faithful suffered at Peshawar Railway Station due to the late arrival of Khyber Mail from Karachi. Quetta Express going towards Quetta from Peshawar was cancelled due to unavailability of engine.

People protested against non-provision of locomotives to Awami Express and Khyber Mail at Peshawar Railway Station. Jaafar Express, from Quetta to Rawalpindi, reached Multan after 9 hours delay. People suffered a lot in the hot weather. The timely departure of number of trains from Lahore Railway Station could not be made possible. People are forced to stay at railway stations during Sehr and Iftar.

37 cities declared sensitive on Eid Day

Police employees’ leaves have been cancelled as a precautionary measure.

Federal Interior Ministry has issued a letter to the KP home ministry regarding law and order situation. A special security plan has been prepared according to which nine cities including Peshawar have been declared most sensitive where heavy contingent of police would be deployed.

Moreover, offering off Eid prayer in open sites would be banned while a large number of security force would be deployed outside the Eid Gahs.

4 US diplomats denied entry into Peshawar

According to a report, after the 2nd May incident a vigilant security check has been kept on the movement of US diplomats. On Wednesday morning, four US diplomats including Denis Wynne, Wilmer Case and Joseph Edward went to Peshawar in two vehicles bearing numbers PB-491 and SV-406. However, police officials at Peshawar Motorway Toll Plaza stopped them and asked for their NOC.

Upon the inquiry of police officials, all the four US diplomats were sent back to Islamabad, as they did not hold the required documents for traveling.

ANP demands new province in Balochistan

Addressing the party units of tribal areas in Peshawar, ANP’s provincial president Afrasiab Khattak said that tribal areas should be declared a province to include tribal people in the national stream.

He said that South Pakhtunkhwa Province should be formed for the people of Balochistan and party should initiate consultation over the issue.

He said that imposition of Political Parties Act and representation of the tribal people in the provincial assembly was dire need of time.

Khattak added that Pakhtuns are one nation and they should not be separated due to geographic barriers.

Firdous denies ban on any TV channel

Firdous told in the National Assembly that the government didn’t block news channels, bent on criticising it all the time, then how can it put a ban on a sports channel.

Parliamentary Secretary for Communication Chaudhry Saeed Iqbal said that a highway would be reconstructed from Peshawar to Torkham.

Minister for Water and Power Naveed Qamar said that reason of delay in purchase of transformers was internal differences of power distribution companies.

Peshawar: DSP among three dead in suicide attack

Breaking News Three people, including a DSP, got killed while 6 others injured when a suicide bomber hit a police convoy at Kohat Road in Peshawar, trendpk.Com reported on Monday.

The blast hit the mobile van passing at Kohat Road near Ring Road Bridge, killing three people including DSP Rasheed Khan, a cop and a passer-by on the spot.

Some six people also got injured, who were later shifted to nearby hospitals.

Two cars also got damaged in the attack. Law enforcement agencies threw cordon around the area.

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