29 killed as Sherpao escapes suicide attack

PESHAWAR: At least 29 people were killed and more than 45 critically injured when a suicide bomber detonated the charge at a public meeting chaired by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao at Station Koroona, Charsadda, on Saturday evening.

Aftab Sherpao was slightly injured in the blast. Bloodstains could be spotted on the clothes of the interior minister and his son, MPA Sikander Sherpao.

An official of the People’s House told The News that both the Sherpaos were safe. The Interior Ministry also said its minister was safe and sound and has sustained no injuries.

The suicide bomber was a short-height man with a small beard. He looked emaciated, probably a drug addict. He approached the stage from behind and tried to get closer to the interior minister.

Sherpao had just finished his speech and was meeting his party workers who had rushed to the stage. As soon as the muezzin began the call for evening prayers, the explosion took place with a deafening sound. In a minute the situation changed from one of order to chaos.

Nearby, a cop of the Anti-Terrorist Force was dying. He had a small beard and his uniform was bloodstained. He was badly wounded and was in terrible pain. Some other policemen from the NWFP and Islamabad were also killed in the explosion.

Survivors, policemen and commoners were busy collecting body parts of the victims. Human limbs were being put in gunny and plastic bags. The injured were crying for help but it took a while to shift them to hospitals.

NWFP PA member Arshad Khan was also injured while the secretary of Sikander Sherpao, Jehanzeb, was among the dead. Some of the victims were said to be the special security guards of the interior minister. Four among the deceased were stated to be children.

Some of the deceased have been identified as Tariq, Mahboob, Khalid, Ihtisham, Jahanzeb, Nadir Khan, Sajjad Shah, Wakil, Zeeshan, Malik Sardar, Abdul Qayum, Said Ali Shah and Fazal Malik. Three of them expired in the Lady Reading Hospital where emergency was declared.

There were unconfirmed reports that the death toll was higher, up to 35. The Inspector-General of NWFP Police, Mohammad Sharif Virk, however, confirmed 15 persons were killed and 24 injured in the suicide attack. The IGP suspected the suicide bomber might be an Afghan national.

Naeem Khan, ACO of Charsadda, confirmed the death of only 20 persons. "We have so far identified 20 dead bodies while the toll might be double," he told newsmen in the casualty department of the District Headquarter Hospital, Charsadda. The head of the suicide bomber was taken into custody by the Charsadda police.

It was the first suicide attack in Charsadda.

A high-level inquiry committee has been constituted to probe into the matter. The law enforcers claimed to have found the head of the suicide bomber whose torso was said to be intact. He was said to be in his early 30s. Investigators believe the identification of the cast of the suicide bomber will help them in investigation into the right direction.

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting was held in the Frontier House late Saturday night to discuss the Charsadda bomb blast and the law and order situation in the province. The chief secretary, the home secretary and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The deadly incident occurred at 6.55pm when the interior minister had just come down the stage after delivering his speech at Railway Ground.

There were around 300 people in the rally who were seen running in panic after the loud bang. Human bodies were seen scattered some 200 metres away from the blast site.

Soon after the incident, party leaders supported Aftab Sherpao by clutching his arms to help him board a white Corolla car which took him to Peshawar. Later, NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai visited the wounded minister to enquire after his health.

"I myself counted the bodies of 35 people while those who sustained injuries were more then 60," a local newsman, Saifullah Khan, told The News. A doctor at the local hospital feared the death toll could be even 40, as there were some bodies that could not be identified.

The NWFP government announced a compensation of Rs 100,000 each to the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the wounded.

About the law and order situation, a spokesman for the MMA provincial government, Asif Iqbal Daudzai said the province was enjoying much better situation in the recent past. "We had asked the federal government to return contingents of the Frontier Constabulary, so that we could improve our law and order situation but it is yet to happen,” he said.

It is to be recalled that the elder brother of Aftab Sherpao and former governor of NWFP, Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao, was also killed in a bomb blast in Peshawar in 1975. He was considered the right hand of late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Aftab Sherpao later succeeded his brother and served twice as chief minister of the province and is presently looking after the Ministry of Interior. He is also head of his own faction of the Pakistan People’s Party of which his son is provincial secretary general.

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