Suicide bomber kills dozens in Peshawar

The powerful blast happened at the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) office, which issues government ID cards, in Mardan town of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, damaging doors and windows of the building. 

An emergency rescue officer said at least 22 people were killed in the suicide blast at a time the office was crowded. In a gory sight, witnesses said human body parts were seen strewn across the blast site. Ten kilo of explosives Deputy Inspector General Mardan Division Saeed Wazir confirmed that it was a “suicide attack.”

District police officer Mardan said it was “too early” to determine the nature of the blast. Officials of the bomb disposal unit at the scene said 8-10 kg of explosives was used in the attack claimed by Tehreek-i- Taliban Pakistan splinter group Jamaatul Ahrar, which was also behind last year’s Wagah Border blast, Dawn news reported. 

According to reports, a suicide bomber ridding on a motorcycle rammed through the gate after the security guard posted there denied him entry. The injured, several of them critical, were shifted to Mardan Medical Complex and other hospitals in the city, where a state of emergency has been declared. The area was cordoned off as rescue and security officials rushed to the site.

The Nadra office, charged with the establishment of a new registration system for the entire population of Pakistan, most of the time remains crowded.  Jamaat ur Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban that is fighting to overthrow the government and establish hard-line Islamist rule, claimed responsibility. 

Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said the office was part of the “heathen Pakistan state” and therefore a legitimate target. “God willing, we will target all Pakistani organisations that are either directly or indirectly a part of this war,” Ehsan said in a statement. 

The Pakistani Taliban once controlled swathes of remote territory in the northwest, but a series of military offensives that began in 2009 has pushed them back into a few pockets. There have been fewer militant attacks in towns and cities over the past year or so, compared with several years ago, but the Taliban remain a potent threat.