Blast that rocked downtown Mingora

[air marshal]

MINGORA: Casualties have been feared in a blast that rocked downtown Mingora, the chief town of swat. - AFP

 

[IMADreamer]

Sad news.Any more details..............

 

[Aslan]

Sad news after some days of calm it is sad indeed. It is about time that the political elite in our country should stop the infighting over petty issues and starts to concentrate on the issues at hand. Unity is the only answer. May Allah bless the departed souls and ease the pain of the victims.

 

[air marshal]

SWAT: At least 10 people including two security personnel have been martyred and several others injured in a blast that rocked Nishat chowk.

 

[pak-marine]

Allah save Pakistan!

 

[Ahmad]

A blast apparently aimed at Pakistani security forces ripped through a busy market in the north-western Swat Valley today, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens of others, officials and witnesses said.

The attack in the district capital of Mingora was the latest violence in the region along the border with Afghanistan where the Pakistani military has been waging offensives against Taliban militants, who have been fighting back, often with homemade bombs.

Swat police chief Muhammad Idrees said items found at the scene of the attack suggested it may have been a suicide bombing, though an investigation would be needed to confirm it.

Witness Rahim Gul said the blast occurred as two vehicles carrying Pakistani security forces passed through the Nishat intersection, which is surrounded by small shops and stalls. But the security forces' vehicles appeared to be undamaged, Gul said.

Television footage of the scene showed a string of cars in the road that were gutted or had blown-out windows. A fire truck arrived to extinguish fires ignited by the blast and heavily armed security forces guarded the area.

Another witness, Shiraz Khan, said people could be heard crying for help immediately after the blast.

Dr Lal Noor, head of the Saidu Sharif hospital in Mingora, said at least eight people had died and 35 were wounded.

The Pakistani military launched an offensive in the mountainous Swat Valley early last year after peace deals with local Taliban collapsed and the militants took control of parts of the region just four hours' drive from Islamabad. The military took back the Swat Valley by mid-2009, but sporadic violence has continued.

The Swat Valley offensive drew strong praise from Washington, which has long urged Pakistan to do more to combat militants in the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border and to root out al-Qaida militants believed to be sheltering there.

Pakistan followed up the Swat campaign with an offensive in the nearby South Waziristan tribal zone.

In recent months, the Taliban has been weakened by CIA missile strikes from unmanned drone aircraft in the border region that have killed some senior leaders.

This month, Pakistan also arrested three senior Afghan Taliban leaders – including the group's no2 commander – and rounded up dozens of other militant suspects, in raids sometimes carried out with US intelligence or other assistance.

Analysts are divided about whether the crackdown signals a shift in Pakistani policy in which security forces are finally going after militants who are thought to have long enjoyed sanctuary in the country, or if the arrests are part of a Pakistani strategy to position the country as a main player in any peace talks between the Taliban and the US-backed Afghan government.

In another part of the north-west, the decapitated bodies of two Sikhs were found almost a month after they were kidnapped in the Khyber tribal region, officials said today.

Local government official Jawed Khan said the family of one of the two men told authorities that kidnappers had demanded 15m rupees (£210,000) in ransom for his return.

Sikhs are a tiny minority in Islamic Pakistan, though there is a sizeable community in the north-west that has increasingly suffered persecution as Islamic extremists have gained influence in recent years.

 

[Ahmad]

self delete.

 

[FPG]

Very sad news.

 

[TaimiKhan]

MINGORA: Five civilians and two security personnel were killed and 37 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a military convoy in Swat valley’s main town of Mingora on Monday.

The convoy was attacked when it was passing through the busy Nishat Chowk.

After the blast, which destroyed eight vehicles and damaged a number of shops, people were seen running for safety and soon the streets were deserted.

According to agency reports, the bomber used a car packed with explosives to attack the convoy.

This was the third suicide attack in Swat since a military operation was launched in May last year. The valley which had suffered bloody clashes and subversive activities earlier has been relatively peaceful for some time.

ANP lawmaker Shamsher Ali Khan was killed in a suicide attack in December last year.

A witness of the Monday attack said there was a fireball and an explosion which rocked the entire city. The scene was littered with human limbs and injured people were lying all around.

The injured were taken to the Saidu Sharif hospital. Firemen struggled for hours to put out the fire.

AFP adds: Television footage showed a car enveloped in flames and black smoke billowing down a street, as casualties lay on the ground in blood-soaked clothing. Soldiers rushed to the scene and ambulances ferried away the wounded.

Frightened women and children could be seen scurrying from the scene.

“I was going for some work in the bazaar but was stopped by security forces because the army convoy was moving,” said Saeedur Rehman, a 45-year-old teacher. Moments later, a car hit the tail end of the military convoy.

“Suddenly there was a huge blast and smoke filled the area. Then heavy firing started and I lay on the ground,” Rehman told AFP.

Officials said they had seized parts of the car used by the bomber. “Four women, two children and three men were killed,” city police chief Qazi Ghulam Farooq said, adding that four of the injured were in a serious condition. “It was a suicide car bomb... The target was an army convoy,” Maj Mushtaq Ahmad Khan of the Swat Media Centre said.

 

[FireFighter]

Here's the video of the aftermath of the Blast.

*Viewers discretion advised*


May Allah Swt Bless the Shuhaida of the blast. RIP

Ameen