PESHAWAR, Pakistan: In yet another deadly bomb blast which targeted a government employees’ bus in Peshawar on Wednesday morning, at least 15 people lost their lives while 30 further received injuries.
The blast took place near Gharbi Police Station in Peshawar where it ripped through a bus carrying Employees of Civil Secretariat from Mardan to Peshawar.
The SSP Operations Abbas Majeed Marwat confirmed to media that the blast caused 15 deaths and 30 injuries whereas the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) said that eight kilogram explosive was used for the blast.
The BDS said that bus was planted inside the bus and was detonated by a time device
The dead bodies and injured persons which included three women and two children were shifted to Cantonment Hospital and Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar.
Initial list of the dead and injured in Peshawar bus blast, via Arshad pic.twitter.com/qmvvPUaBHM
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Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Federal Information Senator Pervaiz Rasheed and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan strongly condemned the Peshawar bus blast.
The prime minister said that such cowardly acts could not deter our resolve to weed out terrorism from the country. He said that culprits involved in the heinous crime will be brought to justice.
Nawaz Sharif directed the authorities concerned to provide best medical treatment to the injured.
In his message, Pervaiz Rasheed said that terrorism has no place in the future of Pakistan. He said that the whole nation stands united in eliminating extremism and terrorism from the soil of motherland.
“Such cowardly acts of terror cannot weaken our resolve in rooting out this menace from the country,” he said.
The information minister expressed his deep grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives and prayed for the early recovery of the injured.
It was the second blast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province this month as earlier a suicide blast ripped through the Tehsil Court in Charsadda district’s Shabqadar area and left nearly 20 people dead.
Later, a splinter group of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Jamatul Ahrar claimed responsibility for the Charsadda attack, saying the judiciary was targeted to avenge the execution of Mumtaz Qadri.