87 killed, 115 injured in Charsadda blasts

ISLAMABAD (PAN‘s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, killing at least 87 people and injuring 115 others, local officials said.

The deadliest attack this year happened in Shabqadar town as newly trained paramilitary cadets, dressed in civilian clothes, were getting into buses for a 10-day leave, the paramilitary police commander, Akbar Hoti, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The dead included 26 FC men and the rest were civilians, he said, adding several vehicles were also destroyed in the blasts.

A local journalist, Ahmad Ali, said the death toll could increase as 40 people were critical injured. He said both the blasts were suicide blasts.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was their first major attack to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The bombers blew themselves up in Shabqadar town outside the biggest Frontier Constabulary training centre close to Mohmand, which is in the lawless tribal belt.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s senior minister, Bashir Ahmed Bilour, said 80 people had been killed, including 69 FC men and 11 civilians. The attack was the deadliest since July 9, 2010 when bombers killed 105 people in Mohmand.

Emergency had been declared in the province biggest hospital, Lady Reading hospital, where doctors said they were struggling to save the lives of more than 40 critically wounded paramilitary policemen.

The district police chief Nisar Khan Marwat said both attacks were suicide attacks. The first suicide bomber came on a motorcycle and detonated his vest among the Frontier Constabulary men, he said, adding when other FC people came to the rescue to help their colleagues, the second bomber came on another motorcycle and blew himself up.

The Taliban last week threatened to attack security forces to avenge bin Laden’s killing in a US helicopter raid north of the capital Islamabad.

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