Suicide hit on funeral kills 34 in Mardan

Mardan- At least 34 people, including a provincial lawmaker, were killed and 60 others injured on Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up during a funeral in Zargarano Killy in the Sher Gahr area of Mardan district, police and independent sources said. 

The sources said Imran Khan Mohmand, an MPA, and others were offering the funeral prayers of Haji Abdullah Khan, a local patrol pump owner, who was shot dead by unidentified men on Monday. 

Imran Mohmand was a worker of Awami National Party, the former ruling party in the province. The party did not award him ticket and he contested the May 11 polls as an independent candidate and won the PK-27 seat. The deceased was closer to PTI after winning the election.

The doctors at Mardan Medical Complex tried to save his life, but he succumbed to his injuries. His brother and a guard were also among the dead. 

Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s Maulana Muhammad Qasim was just to lead the funeral prayers when the bomb exploded, creating chaos all arounf. 

The injured were shifted to Mardan Medical Complex, District Headquarters Hospital Mardan and Ganji Hospital in tehsil Takhatbhai for medical treatment, About 10 of the injured were also shifted to Peshawar. 

The bomber came on foot and blew himself up near Imran Mohmand who seems to have been the target, the sources said. Security forces and rescue teams reached the site after receiving the information. About 8kg explosive was used in the suicide blast, the sources said. 

The bomber came on foot and blew himself up near Imran Khan Mohmand who seems to have been the target. The attack was the deadliest to hit the country since the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office earlier this month.

Deputy Inspector-General Police Mardan Jaffar Khan confirmed the blast was a suicide attack. No militant group has accepted responsibility for the attack. 

The KP government has announced cash compensation for those killed and injured in the suicide blast. The martyred and the injured would be given Rs 300,000 and Rs 100,000 each, respectively.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan condemned the bombing and called the attack on a funeral a barbaric act.

Tuesday’s bombing came three days after 25 people died when militants blew up a bus carrying female students in Quetta and stormed a hospital where the survivors were taken for treatment.

Meanwhile, PTI Secretary Information Shafqat Mahmood has said in a statement that MPA Imran Mohmand had won the May 11 election as an independent candidate. He was supporting PTI but had not formally joined their party, he said, adding talks were in progress regarding his joining PTI. 

The names of the martyred confirmed so far are Imran Khan Mohamand, Gul Bacha, Fazl-e-Malik, Muhammad Tahir, Abdur Rehman and Arshad while the injured are Ayub, Shah Wazir, Jamshed, Nobat Khan, Ishaq, Ihsanullah, Afsar Ali, Ghafoor Shah, Jannat Khan, Sajid, Niaz Muhammad, Gul Rehman, Siddique, Shakirullah, Malki Aman, Javed, Shaheen Wazirzada, Muhammad Naeem, Iqbal, Majid, Inam-ud-Din, Naseeb, Mushtaq, Muzaffar Shah, Wahid, Muhammad, Muhammad Naseeb, Qasim, Najib Khan, Gohar Ali, Bacha Khan, Mian Khan, Muhammad Zamin, Zahirullah and constables Bashir Ahmed and Mir Azam. The condition of several injured is stated to be critical.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is on the frontline of a seven-year Taliban insurgency and borders the tribal belt where US drone strikes target Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives.

Washington considers the tribal areas a major hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.