PESHAWAR: Three children were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast on Peshawar’s Warsak Road on Tuesday morning, rescue and police officials said.
According to Warsak Superintendent of Police Arshad Khan, the incident took place near the Peshawar Public School around 9:10am. Police and rescue teams rushed to the site soon after the blast, he told media persons, adding that the injured children were moved to a private hospital.
The SP claimed that four kilogrammes of explosives, planted in a “cemented block” on roadside, were used in the blast. The area has been cordoned off and further investigation is under way, Khan said. “It would be premature to say who was the target,” the official added.
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the Peshawar Lady Reading Hospital informed the media that four injured persons, including three children, were brought to the facility. He said that condition of two children was critical. “All of them are aged between seven to 10 years,” Asim Khan stated, adding that none of the children was in school uniform.
Earlier, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmed Faizi said windows of a nearby building and windshields of two Suzuki vans were shattered due to the intensity of the blast.
Pakistan has sharp rise in terror activities in recent months, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year. Last month, five people were killed and over 20 sustained injuries in a blast targeting police in KP’s Dera Ismail Khan.
