Peshawar, May 14: Pakistani police seized a van
fitted with a time-bomb in a congested area of northwestern
Bannu City shortly after a home-made device exploded
harmlessly outside a Christian School, officials said today.
The vehicle with five kg of explosive packed in
a tin cannister fitted with a detonator and a timer was parked
outside a hotel in the city's Lakki Gate neighbourhood where
scores of shops are located, Bannu police chief, Iqbal Khan,
said.
He said the bomb, which was timed to go off around 8:00
AM local time (0830 IST) yesterday was detected by a hotel
worker at around 5:00 AM.
"Had it exploded it would have caused heavy losses in the
city's most congested area," Khan told a news agency by telephone.
It was recovered almost two hours after a small home-made
device exploded outside a Christian Missionary School, about
half a kilometer a way, he said.
"The pre-dawn blast caused no damage to the school
building and no casualties."
The police officer ruled out involvement of any terrorist
group in the blast blaming it on a local "criminal gang."
He said efforts were underway to arrest the group and
said there had been several attacks in the past.
Ten days ago a home-made bomb exploded outside a
Christian Hospital staffed by westerners in tank district
some 400 kilometres south of here, but caused no casualties,
police said.
Bureau Report
