بنوں پولیس لائن میں دو دھماکے 9 اہلکار سمیت 15 ہلاک، ڈی پی او کی حالت نازک۔۔

The News International - BANNU: Thirteen people, including nine policemen and four civilians, were killed and 21 others sustained injuries when two suicide bombers attacked the Police Line-II one after another here on Thursday evening.

The injured also included District Police Officer (DPO), Bannu, Iqbal Khan Marwat, who was airlifted to a hospital in Peshawar because of his precarious condition. Police sources told The News that the first suicide bomber blew himself up at the main gate of the Police Line-II when the counting of personnel was under way inside the compound.

A police constable guarding the main gate was killed on the spot in the blast, which occurred soon after the Maghrib prayers.

The sources said DPO Iqbal Marwat, along with security guards, rushed to the police lines after the first suicide blast. As he reached the spot, another bomber blew himself up, killing his security guards on the spot and injuring him and several others, including policemen and civilians. The second suicide blast was carried out 15 minutes after the first explosion.

The sources added that nine cops and four civilians were killed and 21 others wounded in the two suicide explosions. However, the names of the slain policemen and civilians could not be ascertained as security forces besieged the area and curfew was clamped on Bannu city immediately after the blasts.

No one, including reporters, was allowed to perform duty due to fear of more suicide attacks in the city. Hospital sources said a total of 21 wounded policemen and civilians were brought to the District Headquarters Hospital. They said some of the injured were in a serious condition.

The injured cops were identified as Zahidullah, Abdul Hakim, Shahnaz, Safeer Khan, Gul Aslam, Razaullah, Muhammad Nadeem and Safeerullah. The injured civilians were Maulvi Nadir Khan, Noor Zaman, Farhad, Zakiruddin, Yousaf, Adaqia, Ashfaq, Zakirullah, Muskan, Mirqad Ayaz, Hameedullah, Abdul Shakoor and Afrasiyab.

The sources said security forces took control of the hospital after the blast and everyone entering the hospital was being frisked thoroughly. DPO Iqbal Marwat, who sustained critical injuries, was first brought to the DHQ Hospital, from where he was airlifted by an Army helicopter to a hospital in Peshawar due to his critical condition.

APP adds from Islamabad: The twin suicide blasts in Bannu were strongly condemned by the government circles. President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Speaker National Assembly Fehmida Mirza, Acting Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi and Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar in their separate statements expressed deep grief over the killing of innocent people.