News
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Bombers kill 26 at FC DIG’s house* Dead include wife of Frontier Corps DIG, a colonel, nine FC men
* 60, including FC DIG, injured
* Taliban say they carried out attacks to avenge Qaeda arrests
QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD: At least 26 people, including Frontier Corps (FC) DIG’s wife, FC colonel, nine FC personnel, three Balochistan Constabulary (BC) men and three children were killed and 60 others, including FC DIG, sustained injuries in twin suicide attacks at FC DIG’s residence at Anscumb Road Wednesday morning.
Anscumb Road lies in a high security zone, where offices and residences of the governor, chief minister, Commissioner Office and FC DIG are located apart from the Treasury Office, which is also located in the same area.
In the surroundings, civil secretariat, lower courts, including anti-terrorism court, are situated.
According to the Bomb Disposal Squad, 100 kg of explosive was packed in the car that was used in the attack, while around 15 to 20 kg of explosive material was used in the suicide jacket.
One of the suicide bombers was identified as Ahmed Gull s/o Saeed Gull, resident of Kunduz province of Afghanistan. He obtained his Afghan Refugee Card from Peshawar.
According to police sources, one of the attackers rammed his vehicle carrying explosives into an FC vehicle parked outside the FC DIG’s house while the other entered the house and started firing. He later blew himself up.
Both the blasts killed four FC personnel and 21 others, while more than 55 persons got injured.
According to an injured, Sultan Mohammad, he was standing at the corner of the road when a suicide bomber riding a car hit the wall of the FC DIG’s house. “Then he reversed the car and targeted the FC vehicle which was parked outside the house. The vehicle exploded with a big bang. Then I don’t know what happened,” he added. The blast smashed glass panels of hundreds of buildings, including those of Civil Secretariat, bank’s branches at Main Jinnah Road, Civil Hospital, Press Club, lower courts, offices of the commissioner and the deputy commissioner. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP in a phone call from an undisclosed location that the group was behind the attack “to avenge the arrest of our mujahideen brothers by Pakistani security forces in Quetta recently”.
Asked whether he was referring to al-Mauritani and two others, he said, “Yes.” “We will launch a bigger attack in future,” Ehsan said. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the attack.
The prime minister, in a message from Astana, Kazakhstan, expressed his government’s resolve to continue with its efforts to eliminate extremism and terrorism from the country. President Asif Ali Zardari also strongly condemned twin bomb blasts. The president said the government was determined to root out extremism and terrorism from the country. mohammad zafar/ agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk