Peshawar: At least three persons were killed
and 18 others, including journalists, were injured on Tuesday when
a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a press club here,
the first such attack targeting scribes in Pakistan which has
been rocked by a series of terror strikes in recent months.
The bomber detonated his suicide jacket while he was
being frisked by a policeman at the gate of the press club on
the busy Sher Shah Suri Road shortly before noon.
North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Information Minister
Mian Iftikhar Hussain said three persons, including the
policeman, were killed by the blast.
A woman, who was passing the area in an auto-rickshaw,
was also among the dead, said officials at the Lady Reading
Hospital.
They said 18 people, including journalists and the
accountant of the Press Club, were injured. Most of the
injured were sent home after being given first aid while five
were admitted to the hospital.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Peshawar has been hit by a wave of bombings and suicide
attacks that has killed hundreds of people since October when
military launched a major offensive against Taliban in South
Waziristan, but this is the first time that journalists were
targeted.
The powerful blast damaged the Press Club and blew out
its windows.
The accountant's room, located at the entrance of the
club, was devastated by the blast and the walls outside were
pitted by ball bearings packed into the bomber's explosive
jacket.
A bus passing the press club was also damaged by the
blast.
A witness described the bomber as a young man of short
stature. He said there was an explosion just as the policeman
at the gate began checking the bomber.
Security forces cordoned off the area and gathered the
body parts of the bomber.
Ambulances rushed the injured to hospital, where an
emergency was declared.
Journalists said the press club had received several
threats from militants in the recent past.
They said they believed the club was the target of the
attack as there were no other important buildings or
facilities nearby that could have been struck by the bomber.
There were also reports that Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq
had said the media could be targeted because it was backing
the ongoing campaign by security forces against militants.
Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan said policemen had
been deployed at the Press Club because of reports that the
media could be attacked.
Information Minister Hussain said no one was safe from
such attacks as the militants were even targeting mosques and
graveyards.
"The media has been targeted because they write the truth
and the true identity of the militants has been exposed by the
print and electronic media," he said.
"Journalists will not be cowed down by this attack and I
hope it will strengthen their 'jehad' (against the militants).
The journalists are not alone as the government, security
agencies and people are with them," Hussain said.
More than 50 journalists were present in the club at the
time of the blast.
A provincial minister was scheduled to address a news
conference there later in afternoon while the journalists were
busy with activities related to the club's upcoming elections.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 22, 2009, 14:35