Global Courant 2023-04-25 11:35:25
Two explosions at a counter-terrorism police compound in northern Pakistan killed at least 15 people and injured dozens late Monday night, police officials said, following months of mounting terror attacks that have raised alarm across the country.
Pakistani Taliban militants have repeatedly targeted the police, especially anti-terrorist officials, in recent months. And the area where the attack took place, the Swat valley of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, has seen a notable increase in militant activity.
But some investigators insisted there was no evidence that the deadly blasts — which also injured at least 57 people, according to local officials — were caused by an attack. Police officials said the blast occurred in the basement of the police complex, where mortar shells and other weapons and ammunition captured from militants were stored, and that an electrical short circuit or spontaneous detonation may have triggered the explosions.
Nasir Mehmood Satti, deputy inspector general of police, said initial inquiries pointed to “carelessness”.
The first powerful explosion forced the roof of the compound’s main structure to collapse and damaged a nearby mosque and a few houses in the town of Kabal. Several police officers were trapped under the rubble of the precinct and have been pulled out, officials said.
According to police officials, the building was in a dilapidated state and most of the staff and equipment had recently been relocated.
The injured were taken to different hospitals in Swat, local health officials said. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa health department has declared a health emergency in Swat and put all hospitals on red.
Since the takeover of neighboring Afghanistan by the Afghan Taliban in 2021, the Pakistani Taliban – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the TTP – has made a comeback in various parts of Pakistan and has launched an increasingly intense campaign against the security forces.
Murad Saeed, a former MP affiliated with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party in Pakistan, insisted the explosion must have been a terrorist attack.
“The attack is similar to the attack on police in Peshawar,” Saeed said in a video message, referring to this year’s suicide bombing in the provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa that killed more than 100 people.
A group of activists in Swat also rejected the police’s claims, calling the explosion an act of terrorism and stating they would organize a protest in the valley on Tuesday.
“Today’s protest will show that the people of Swat are peace-loving people and will no longer allow elements, be it the Taliban or the state, to sabotage the hard-earned peace,” said Zaman Shah, 32, a resident of cabal.
Swat, a picturesque northern valley, has long been scarred by terrorism and the ensuing military campaigns to eradicate it.
Swat was a popular tourist destination before it fell to the Taliban in late 2007. The militants forced their harsh version of Islam on locals, killed community leaders, blew up girls’ schools and forced men to bear beards and attend prayers — sometimes flogging and even beheading accused offenders in public.
In 2009, the Pakistani army launched a large-scale military offensive against the militants in Swat, successfully wresting control of the area after months of fighting.
Swat is also home to Malala Yousafzai, an activist for girls’ education in the region who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012. Ms. Yousafzai, who was 15 years old at the time of the attack, was awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy work.
Last August there were groups of armed militants reportedly resurfacing in some parts of Swat, reigniting fear among the region’s residents. The military stressed that reports of the Taliban resurgence in the valley were exaggerated, but concerns were heightened even before the deadly blasts this week.
Salman Masood reported from Islamabad and Zia ur-Rehman from Karachi.
