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PESHAWAR – Two explosion rocked the northwestern counter-terrorism unit’s office Pakistan , Monday (24/4/2023). The explosion killed at least eight people and injured more than 50, police said.
The provincial police chief, Akhtar Hayat, said it was not yet clear what caused the explosion in the northwestern Swat valley, which was long controlled by insurgents before being destroyed in a military operation in 2009.
The militants also shot and injured Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012 in the scenic valley. The region is the birthplace of Mullah Fazlullah, the former head of the Pakistani Taliban, who was killed in an airstrike in neighboring Afghanistan in 2018.
“Most of those who died on Monday were police counter-terrorism officers,” Hayat said, as quoted by Reuters. He also added that a woman and her child who were passing through the building when the explosion occurred also died.
He said there was an old ammunition depot in the office and police were investigating whether that caused the explosion or the militant attack.
This was an unfortunate incident, regional head of the counter-terrorism department Sohail Khalid told reporters. He said it did not appear to be a suicide attack or a terrorist incident.
“There was a shop where we had a large quantity of weapons, and until now we believed that there might have been several explosions inside due to carelessness,” he said. “We are keeping all our options open,” he continued.
So far no one has claimed responsibility. The regional hospital administration said it received several injured people, some of whom were in critical condition.
Live TV footage showed rescue workers and police rushing the bloodied wounded to hospital.
A rescue worker, Shafiqa Gul, said it was an old building and partially collapsed completely. “We fear there will be more victims,” he said.
(esn)
