SHAHID RAO/JAM SAJJAD HUSSAIN
RAWALPINDI/LAHORE – A suicide bomber exploded his explosive jacket in the parking area of Shalimar Hotel in front of National Bank of Pakistan here at Mall Road on Monday at 10:40am and killed at least 35 persons including two women, besides injuring 63 others.
Most of the victims were queuing up in front of the bank to draw their salaries at the time of blast. The explosion showered the area with human flesh, blood and shattering windows.
Soon after the blast, law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and shifted the injured and the dead to various hospitals with the help of rescue teams. All the roads leading to the blast site were blocked and traffic from Mall Road was diverted to other roads.
Talking to media persons, Regional Police Officer (RPO) Muhammad Asalm Tareen confirmed that it was a suicide attack. He said it was too early to say anything about the target of the attacker.Another police official informed that security personnel had recovered the head of the suicide
bomber from the second floor of the building.
On the other hand, Rescue 1122 officials confirmed that the rescue workers shifted 34 dead bodies and 63 injured persons to various hospitals including District Headquarters Hospitals, Military Hospital and Combined Military Hospital.
The intensity of the blast was so severe that all the vehicles parked nearby were damaged completely. “The intensity of the blast knocked me down and I went into a state of unconsciousness for some time. When I regained my senses, I saw clouds of dust and blood everywhere in the restaurant while a leg of a deceased was lying in front of me,” told Rehan Ahmed, an eyewitness of the blast.
Later, District Emergency Officer of Rescue 1122 issued the names of the victims of the blast. The deceased which were brought at Combined Military Hospital included M. Sarwar, Khalid, Shahzad, Mehboob, Naimat, Hafeez, Jahangir, Munir Ahmed, Zain-ul-Haq, Kamran, Fakhur-un-Nisa, Sameena
Yaqoob and M. Yaqoob, while the identity of five bodies could not be ascertained.
The dead shifted to DHQ included M. Afzal, Sharafat Ali, M. Akbar, Tariq Javed Kayani, M. Arshad, M. Sarfraz and Bashir Ahmed, while four remained unknown. The deceased who were shifted to MH were Maqsood Ahmed, Shahid Abbas, Hamid Ali, Paris Khan, M Ahmed and Amjad Rizwan.
The names of eight injured brought to District Headquarters Hospital are: Imran, Mushtaq, Hikamatullah, M. Ijaz, Noor, Rafeeq, Sabtain and Bashir Ahmed. The 25 injured brought to Combined Military Hospital are Sajid Mehmood, Babar Khan, Saeed Zaman, M. Sher, Ghazanfar, M. Akram, Alam Khan, Khadim Hussain, Mukhtar Hussain, Mahad Ali, Shabbir Hussain, Rashid
Masood, M. Saleem, Sikander, Aetibar Shah, M. Aslam, Naimatullah, Islamuddin, Wahid, Faiz Qadir, Khawar Shehzad, M. Sadiq, M. Iqbal, Shakeel and M. Sabtain.
Likewise the names of 28 injured who were brought to Military Hospital were M. Akram, Mazhar, Noor Zaman, M. Shafique, M. Shahadat, Manzoor, Abdul Rehman, Khalid, Ramzan, Hayatullah, Nazir Ahmed, M. Imran, Munsib, Amjad, Zahid Iqbal, M. Saleem, M. Afzal, Lal Khan, Shakir Ali, M.
Shareef, Fakar Ullah Bhatti, M. Taufail, Basharat, Abdul Saeed, Sagheer Ahmed, M. Haroon and Ghafoor, while the name of one injured person was not ascertained. Similarly, M. Razzak and M. Nawaz were hospitalised at Heart International Hospital.
Agencies add: The second large-scale bomb to kill civilians in less than a week, the attack near the Army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi showed the enormity of the threat that Al-Qaeda-linked militants pose in Pakistan.
The explosion outside a building housing a bank and the four-star Shalimar Hotel rocked the area. “Our building shook as if in an earthquake and when we came out there was smoke everywhere and body parts were thrown into our office,” Raja Sher Ali, a marketing manager in a local company, told
AFP.
A surge in bloodshed left more than 300 people dead last month as Pakistan presses a major offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the tribal belt.
A senior police official said the latest attack was the work of a suicide bomber, although rescue workers said the cause of the blast was still unclear.
“The suicide bomber came on a motorcycle and blew up close to people gathered to get salaries. We found parts of a suicide vest and some body parts of the suicide attacker,” senior police official
Aslam Tarin told reporters.
“Thirty-five were killed and more than 60 wounded,” Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told a news conference. Four security personnel were among the dead and nine others wounded, the military said.
Officials said many of the victims were elderly people who had gathered at a bank to withdraw their pensions. TV stations showed ambulances and police vehicles racing through the streets, sirens wailing.
“It was a huge blast. Smoke is rising from the scene,” Nasir Naqvi, who runs a travel agency near the site of the blast, told Reuters.
Deeba Shehnaz, a rescue workers spokeswoman, told AFP there were 34 dead bodies lying in three different hospitals, with 32 people wounded.
The attack struck near the upmarket Pearl Continental Hotel and Army Headquarters, where 10 gunmen kept up a nearly 24-hour siege last month that left 23 people dead.
“It will not shake our determination to eradicate and to eliminate this menace,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on the sidelines of a conference of developing Islamic nations in Kuala Lumpur.
The investigators have collected the CCTV footage installed outside the main branch of National Bank of Pakistan.
According to details, after the suicide attack, the officials of an investigative agency arrived at the spot and collected the footage of CCTV while investigation has been started.
Meanwhile, on the directives of Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, an initial report of the suicide blast has been dispatched to the Punjab government.
The report says a bomber wearing a suicide jacket weighing 10 kg explosives and other material came on a bike and blew himself up outside the bank when employees were receiving salaries, sources claim.
Five kilograms pure explosives were used in the blast, adding that the suicide bomber also hurled a hand grenade before exploding himself, the report adds.
Meanwlile– At least 25 people were wounded including five policemen as two suicide bombers blew themselves off at Sherakot police checkpoint near Babu Sabu Interchange at Motorway on Monday evening, seconds after the police had intercepted them from entering the provincial capital.
Police and eyewitnesses said that the bombers had detonated the explosive vests soon after the policemen had intercepted them for snap-checking at the police post at the Motorway, the main entry point of the City that links the provincial metropolis to the Federal Capital and Southern Punjab.
Rescue workers said that 25 people had been shifted to different public hospitals of the City. The condition of four of the injured including two cops was reported to be critical, according to the hospital sources. Security officers were witnessed inspecting a small mangled car in front of a truck and a few other vehicles on a wide road where low concrete blast barriers were visible in front of the damaged car. There were small pieces of debris scattered across the road.
The blast rocked the check post at about 6:45 pm when two suicide bombers in a white Suzuki Mehran exploded themselves. An eyewitness said that one perpetrator, who had come out of the car, blew him up when the police officers at picket stopped them for routine checking.
Two policemen identified as Muhammad Latif and Zamanullah were rushed to the Mayo Hospital with multiple injuries, and their condition was reported to be very critical.
‘We already had information about the car used in the suicidal attack and the police were on high-alert’, SP Iqbal Town Ali Rizvi said.
‘Apparently, it seemed that around 100-kg explosive material was used in the blasts’, a senior police officer told reporters at the crime scene.
Severed head of one of the suicide attackers was recovered from the scene and he was of 18 to 20 years old. Edhi Ambulances and Rescue 1122 teams reached the blast site and started the relief activities.
Police cordoned of the area and launched a massive search operation in adjoining areas of the blast site. The security was put on high-alert soon after the attacks as all the bus stands located in different parts of the City were closed down and the police intensified armed patrolling in the sensitive areas to keep the things under control.
Sources in the security agencies disclosed that the terrorists were intercepted by the police at the checkpoint when they tried to enter the City. They were heading toward Lahore to carry out attacks and their targets were crowded public places, a source said ,adding, the in-time intervention foiled their attempt?
The suicide bombers were left with no other option but to explode the vests at the checkpoint soon after the policemen stopped their car to carry out snap-checking, Muhammad Imran, one of the injured said.
‘There was darkness of the evening when suddenly we saw fire light and then blasts in the car that was being searched by the policemen. It was a very powerful blast as it badly damaged several other vehicles’, Ameen another injured said.
Rescue 1122 officials confirmed that 25 people including police officials sustained severe injuries. The source further said that 10 injured including four policemen were shifted to Services Hospital, four to Mayo Hospital, one to Ganga Ram and one to Mian Munshi Hospital while others were sent to Sheikh Zayed Hospital.
Some of the injured were later identified as Muhammad Bilal, Gul Muhammad, Zafar, Ameen, Kaleem, Muhammad Naveed, Salim, Muhammad Sarwar, Malik Ijaz and Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Zaman, Mian Naveed, Muhammad Saeed, Taimur Nasir and Latif. Some travellers in the buses, stopped for checking, at check post also sustained minor injuries.
‘Two suicide bombers exploded themselves up when a white Suzuki Mehran car was stopped at the police post. The body parts of the suicide bombers have also been recovered from the crime scene’, Capital City Police Officer Pervez Rathore told reporters at the scene. He said that at least 15
persons were injured.
‘Seven persons are critically injured including 1 traffic warden, 2 policemen and 4 passersby’, he added.
‘Bomb disposal staffs are defusing remaining explosives in the car. Thank God, no casualty has been reported so far’, he added.
He ,however, lauded the courage and bravery of the police officials who were discharging duties at the check post.
‘The policemen have saved many lives by intercepting them before reaching their targets’, he commented.
Talking to the reporters, Inspector General of Police Punjab Tariq Saleem Dogar said that the police force were on high alert.
‘No doubt police officers have shown great courage. I am proud of them’, Dogar lauded. He said that no stone would be left unturned for eliminating the monster of terrorism and ensuring protection to the lives and property of the citizens.
Meanwhile, the entire National Highway and Motorway Police has been put on high-alert at all the national highways following the suicide blast at Shera Kot. Inspector General of Motorway and National Police Dr Wasim Kausar said that this tragic, inhumane and unfortunate incident took place
at the most important artery of Lahore.
‘In view of this incident, round the clock armed patrolling on the National Highway and Motorway network has been intensified across the country to ensure smooth traffic flow and safety of the travellers’, he added.
The Mayo Hospital sources said that the condition of four persons including police officer, Latif, was serious and they were shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) immediately after their arrival at the
hospital. SSP Operation Ch Shafiq Ahmad said the injured policemen have shown their valiant spirit by saving the lives of citizens.
‘The forces are committed to defeat the terrorists at all fronts. Such suicidal attacks are the last signs of the perpetrators’, he added.