At least 16 folks have been confirmed killed in Pakistan after a hearth brought about a collection of explosions at a munitions cache late Monday, the police mentioned.
The explosions leveled the specialist counterterrorism station in Kabal city of Swat Valley, within the northwestern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which neighbors Afghanistan.
Swat police mentioned Tuesday {that a} short-circuit in a basement storing “grenades and other explosives” was the reason for the blasts.
“It was like hell let loose on me,” mentioned Abbas Khan, 21, who had parked his automobile close to the police station.
He mentioned a thick cloud of mud and smoke engulfed your entire space, making it tough to breathe.
The lifeless included policemen, 5 suspected terrorists being held for interrogation, and two brothers aged 4 and 6 who lived close by, Akhtar Hayat Gandapur, the inspector normal of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, advised AFP.
More than 50 individuals are being handled in numerous hospitals for his or her wounds.
Gandapur dominated out the potential of any terrorist exercise.
“We have not yet found any material or visual evidence suggesting a suicide attack but we will look into all aspects during investigations,” he mentioned.
The intense explosion rained items of munition on close by homes and streets.
“Around 300 kilograms of explosives including anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, artillery shells, and mortars were stored in the basement in addition to improvised explosive devices and suicide vests which had been recovered from the custody of terrorists,” Khalid Sohail, a senior officer within the native counter-terrorism division advised AFP.
Funeral prayers of 9 policemen had been provided Tuesday morning with their coffins draped within the nationwide flag.
Since the beginning of the 12 months, two assaults on massive police bases have been linked to the Pakistani Taliban, often called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The TTP have lengthy focused regulation enforcement officers, who they accuse of conducting extrajudicial executions.
Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic uptick in assaults because the Taliban seized management of Kabul, targeted on its border areas with Afghanistan, and Islamabad says offensives are being launched from Afghan soil.
The TTP was based in 2007 when Pakistani militants preventing alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan splintered off to focus assaults on Islamabad as payback for supporting the U.S. invasion after the 9/11 assaults.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
