PESHAWAR: Six Fron­tier Corps (FC) men were injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a vehicle carrying the paramilitary personnel in Hayatabad on Tuesday afternoon, the police said.

SP Cantonment Circle Waqas Rafiq told reporters that it was a suicide attack which targeted the vehicle passing through Phase-II of the posh residential area. He said that the injured personnel had been shifted to hospital and were said to be in stable condition.

SSP Operations Haroon Rashid Khan said that the blast appeared to be a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. However, he added that they were investigating the attack from “different angles”.

SSP Khan said that the police were already on high alert ahead of Muhar­ram and were carrying out search operations to avert any untoward incident. Besides, he said, police have also deployed personnel at the entry and exit points of the city.

A source told Dawn that an estimated 20-25 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the bombing. “High explosives packed in a CNG cylinder were kept in the back of the car which was rammed into the pickup from behind,” he said.

He said that since the explosives were packed in the rear of the car, the blast thrust was in the opposite direction of where the FC vehicle was heading, which resulted in fewer casualties. The source said that the bomber’s body was recovered nearly intact and he appeared to be in his late thirties.

Mulla Qasim, a spokesperson for a new group calling itself Tehreek Jihad Pakistan (TJP) in a statement claimed responsibility for the attack. However, a senior official insisted that there was no such group and pinned the attack on Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, which was purportedly using a pseudonym to deflect mounting pressure on Afghan Taliban.

In January this year, a devastating suicide attack targeting the mosque at the city’s police headquarters resulted in the killing of more than 80 cops while scores were injured.

CM seeks report

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan condemned the Hayatabad suicide attack and directed the senior police officials to submit a detailed report.

Awami National Party (ANP) KP president Aimal Wali Khan also condemned the attack. In a statement, he said that with the Muharram just around the corner, the attack raised a question mark over the security arrangements.

He said that those who played the drama of talks with militants were responsible for the uptick in militancy.

A day earlier, corps commanders of the Pakistan Army blamed Kabul for the uptick in militancy, saying that safe havens and liberty of action, along with the latest weapons available to militants from Afghanistan enabled them to carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023