DERA GHAZI KHAN – A car bomb near the home of senior provincial advisor Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa killed at least 33 people and wounded more than 60 others on Tuesday, police said.
A car loaded with highly explosive material hit the main gate of the residence of the senior provincial advisor located at busy Jampur Road in the heart of the city, killing 33 people and injuring 60 others. Most of the dead include bank employees, shopkeepers, customers and passers-by.
The explosion was so powerful that body parts of the victims were flung several metres away from the blast site.
District Police Officer DG Khan Dr Rizwan said the blast occurred near Khosa Market at the gate of Khosa House that left several people dead and more than 60 others injured while three persons were pulled out alive from the collapsed market. Following the blast all the city markets, shops and trade centres were closed immediately.
Commissioner Hassan Iqbal, DPO Dr Rizwan, DCO Iftikhar Ali Sahoo and RPO Mubarik Ali Athar rushed to the site of carnage and monitored the rescue work.
Agencies add: The blast took place in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in a market, the kind of site frequently targeted by militants seeking to inflict maximum casualties.
“It was near a market and several shops have collapsed,” said Tariq Gurmani, a resident of the town, adding he had seen several wounded people.
The bomber apparently targeted Zulfiqar Khosa, a senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.
The attack badly damaged the lawmakerÂ’s home and several other nearby shops and buildings. Many people were trapped under the rubble, officials said. TV footage showed rescue workers scrambling around a smoke-filled pile of debris and metal.
“There was no family member in the house,” Zulfiqar Khosa told reporters.
“It was a powerful car bomb blast, it ripped through the Khosa Market, which is the busiest shopping centre in the town,” a police official said. “Several shops were destroyed and a mosque was also badly damaged,” he added.
The townÂ’s commissioner Hassan Iqbal told AFP there were many people trapped in the rubble after the powerful blast demolished some 10 shops.
“The rescue work is under way and we fear the toll may go up,” Iqbal added. “It was a terrorist activity, similar to those being carried out in other parts of the country.”
Witnesses said the roofs of several shops caved in and dust and smoke engulfed the site after the blast, which left a big crater in the ground. Local people rushed to join the rescue work while cranes removed the debris.
Zulfiqar KhosaÂ’s son, Dost Mohammad Khosa, said two of his cousins were among the wounded.
“It was a direct attack on us,” Dost Mohammad Khosa alleged, declining to speculate who was behind the blast.
The militants have mostly targeted security forces in recent months, but lawmakers and court buildings also have been attacked. There have also been at least three bombs in crowded markets, apparently aimed at causing civilian casualties and undercutting public support for the army offensive.
The car bombing came a week after two suicide attackers firing rockets and guns last Tuesday drove up to the offices of PakistanÂ’s main intelligence agency in Multan, 100 kilometres west of Dera Ghazi Khan before detonating their car bomb and killing 10 people. Earlier twin suicide blasts killed 51 people in a busy market in Lahore on December 7.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani telephoned Dost Muhammad Khosa, provincial minister for local bodies Punjab, and strongly condemned the bomb blast near his house in Khosa Market, Dera Ghazi Khan.
The PM inquired after the well-being of Dost Muhammad Khosa and also expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of lives in the incidents.
He directed the hospital authorities for provision of best medical facilities to the injured and ordered conduct of relief operations with full strength so that the people under the debris could be rescued at the earliest.
The PM said such cowardly acts could not deter the governmentÂ’s firm resolve to fight terrorism and added that the action against them would continue till their complete elimination.
The Premier also offered condolences to the bereaved families.