PAKISTAN: Two explosions on Monday rocked a counter-terrorism ammunition depot in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 50, the police said.
Akhtar Hayat, provincial police chief, said the explosives shook the anti-terrorism office in the northwest Swat valley, which had long been under the control of Islamist extremists before they were driven out in a military assault in 2009.
In a later statement, his spokesperson claimed that an electrical short-circuit was most likely to blame for the fire the ammunition started. There hasn’t been any proof of an outside attack so far.
The Pakistani military and police have a sizable counter-terrorism presence in the valley, which has been vulnerable to the insurgency.
The militants also fired at and injured Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai in 2012 in the picturesque valley, where Mullah Fazlullah, the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was born and killed in an airstrike in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2018.
The spokesperson stated that additional aspects of the explosions are being looked into. According to Hayat, the majority of those murdered in the explosions were police counterterrorism officers. She also noted that a mother and her child who were walking past the building were also slain.
“The blasts didn’t seem to be a suicide attack or another type of terrorist act,” the regional head of the counter-terrorism division Sohail Khalid told reporters.
He said, “There was a store where we had a huge quantity of weapons, and until now we believed that there might have been some blast in it due to some carelessness. We are keeping all our options open.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on Twitter, saying, “Strongly condemn the suicide attack on the CTD police station in Swat. The nation is deeply grieved over the martyrdom of police officials. Our police have been the first line of defence against terrorism. We will not rest until we eliminate this scourge. My condolences to the bereaved families.”
“Clarification: The nature of the blast is being investigated, and as soon as the security agencies conclude, it will be shared with the nation,” his statement further reads.
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