unconfirmed reports; 10 dead, 35 injured. inna lillah e wa inna ilahe raje on.
Re: Peshawar blast
ohhh...thats horrible. post details as u get em
Re: Peshawar blast
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A blast near the largest mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar killed up to 10 people, most of them police officers, police and witnesses said.
It was unknown who was behind the explosion, but Pakistan has been braced for a fresh outburst of sectarian violence during the Islamic month of Moharram, when the country’s Shi’ite minority mourns the death of one their sect’s heroes.
While the blast occurred just meters away from Qasim Ali Khan mosque, the largest Sunni mosque in the city, it was also close to a Shi’ite community center, which had just been visited by the police caught in the explosion.
“When they went out there was an explosion. It terrified us, the noise was deafening,” Sayed Qainul Hassan, the man in charge of the community center, told Reuters.
Police officer Chaudhry Ashraf said most of the dead were policemen, and half a dozen police were wounded.
A Reuters journalist saw the corpses of three civilians being carried through a hospital by men chanting anti-government slogans.
A power cut in the city made it difficult to gather all the details, officials said.
Re: Peshawar blast
Bomb explodes at Peshawar mosque
A bomb has exploded at a Shia Muslim mosque in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, officials said.
A police official told Reuters news agency that up to 10 policemen had been killed in the blast. More details soon.
Re: Peshawar blast
Shia local mosque? GEO is reporting it was outside Kabuli Thaana at 8:30PM local time. A suicide bomber blew himself up near policemen watching a Muharram Juloos. Most of the nine dead were police.
Re: Peshawar blast
Edhi center's report: 14 dead bodies were collected including high police officials CCPO Malik Saad, DSP khan raziq and Nazim Mohamad Ali Lassi.
Re: Peshawar blast
Inna Lillahey wa Inna IlyehaY Ra'jeoon.
Re: Peshawar blast
:sad:
Re: Peshawar blast
DIG Malik Saad is the biggest lost for the people of Peshawar :( He was the only one in Police force who was loved by the ppl. He had done so much for Peshawar and NWFP.
May Allah Bless His Soul along with all other casualties (ameen)
Re: Peshawar blast
i heard about this about 2 hours ago
Re: Peshawar blast
Bombing kills 11, wounds 35 in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suspected suicide attacker exploded a bomb near a Shiite Muslim mosque in this northwestern Pakistani city late Saturday, killing at least 11 people, including the city police chief, and wounding 35, police said.
Most of the victims were police and municipal officials who were clearing the route for a procession of Shiites in a crowded old quarter of Peshawar, said police officer Aziz Khan. The procession had yet to begin.
This weekend marks the start of the festival of Ashoura, when Shiites mourn the 7th century death of the prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein. In the past the festival has been a target for sectarian attacks.
The blast went off in a bazaar area about 200 yards from the mosque that was the starting point for the Shiite procession. It caused a power outage that left the city center in darkness, complicating rescue efforts.
At the bomb site, investigators found what appeared to be two legs from a suicide attacker, police officer Raza Khan said.
Eleven bodies and 35 wounded people were brought to Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital, Aziz Khan said. The city’s police chief, Malik Saab, was among the dead, said provincial police chief Sharif Virk.
Hundreds of people crowded around the hospital seeking news on loved ones. By loudspeaker, hospital officials appealed for calm and blood donations.
Aziz Khan had been on duty near the mosque when the bomb went off.
“I thought my eardrums had burst. Then there were flames and the people were in panic. I remembered that there was a police contingent, so I went to see what had happened to my colleagues. Many were wounded in a bad way,” he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion will likely fall on Sunni extremists.
Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani condemned the attack, saying it had been orchestrated by the “enemies of Pakistan, Islam and humanity.”
Most Pakistani Shiites and Sunnis co-exist peacefully, but militant groups on both sides are blamed for sectarian attacks that claim scores of lives every year.
Security is already high across Pakistan for Ashoura, amid fears that the sectarian violence in Iraq could stir up animosity between minority Shiites and majority Sunnis in Pakistan.
Re: Peshawar blast
Inna lillahe wa inna alehe rajeun
May Allah Protect Azadar-e-Hussain (a.s.)
Re: Peshawar blast
all your reports are wrong, I was there 15 minutes prior…Read here
Re: Peshawar blast
I think they were willing to target the police, as a sign of the government if they didn't get to the shia groups. the Mosuqe mentioned in reports was in a fact a sunni mosque.
NWFP loses its finest cop
PESHAWAR: The Frontier Police had not yet recovered from the loss of one of its bravest police officers Abid Ali that it lost Malik Muhammad Saad, arguably the finest cop in the province.
Abid Ali, who was killed by unknown gunmen after being waylaid in Mattani area near Peshawar in December, had earned promotion as deputy inspector-general of police at the same time last year as Malik Saad. Both were talented and fearless police officers. And they were destined to die unnatural deaths so close to each other.
Few police officers received the kind of public support that Malik Saad got upon his appointment as chief of capital city police on December 28, 2006. There was tremendous goodwill for him and people from different walks of life gave statements and wrote letters welcoming his appointment and hoping that he would free Peshawar of crime and bring order to their disorderly city. High expectations were attached to the upright cop who brooked no political interference in his work and had the guts to do his job without fear or favour. Such was the trust in Malik Saad that many people felt he possessed the magic wand to set things right and succeed where others may have failed.
Malik Saad received promotion to grade 19 on December 6 last year. The then IGP Muhammad Raffat Pasha pinned badges to his shoulders to formalize his promotion and to make him deputy inspector general of police. Like Abid Ali, he had been promoted at a relatively young age. It was early recognition of Malik Saad’s services as a brave and capable cop. It was, therefore, hardly surprising that IGP Pasha on that occasion generously praised him and remarked that both the people and police of the province trusted Malik Saad.
Born in Kohat, Malik Saad was a civil engineer. But fate brought him to the police and he served with so much dedication in every position he held that got the choicest jobs. His degree in civil engineering and his administrative experience prompted the provincial government to appoint him administrator of Peshawar Municipal Corporation and as head of Peshawar Development Authority, or CD&MD as it was renamed.
His performance in those two non-policing jobs was praised by his superiors as well as by the general public. However, it was as a police officer that Malik Saad mde his mark wherever he served. He headed the police in Peshawar and in Buner, Swat and Dir. He also did a stint as assistant inspector general of police for traffic in Peshawar. At all those places, he set standards that his successors found difficult to emulate.
His last weeks in life were spent clearing encroachments in Peshawar and streamlining the chaotic traffic in the city. Already, improvements were becoming visible and Peshawarites were hoping that things would become better and brighter in the days to come. It didn’t happen that way and now we know that Malik Saad was counting his days.
The end came violently with the suicide bomber, or the one who planted the bomb, aiming for Malik Saad and his police subordinates in what one could justifiably describe as targeted killing. Most of those killed were cops, both young and old and senior and junior. Among them were the ever-smiling and at times naughty deputy superintendent of police Khan Raziq and six young constables brought from Police Training College, Hangu in aid of local police to upgrade security for Ashura. And then there was Malik Saad, who offered the supreme sacrifice of his life leading his men from the front. That is how he operated as police officer in emergencies throughout his distinguished career and that is the way he would have preferred to die.