twin suicide blasts FC training centre in Shabqadar town of Charsadda

FC training centre in Charsadda targeted
CHARSADDA Eighty people, including more than 65 paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC) recruits, were killed in twin suicide blasts at the entrance of the FC training centre in Shabqadar town of Charsadda district at about 6am on Friday.
Over 100 others were also injured and were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital and other health facilities in Peshawar and Charsadda. An eyewitness said around 850 of the 1,800 recruits were boarding vehicles to return home for a 10-day vacation just a day after celebrating their passing out when a suicide bomber, riding a motorbike, blew himself up near the main gate of the well-built FC fortress, located 30 kilometres northeast off Peshawar. As FC soldiers and locals rushed to the site to rescue the wounded and retrieve the bodies, another suicide bomber detonated himself a few minutes after the first blast.

Eyewitnesses said chaos followed, with bodies lying all around and the injured crying for help. Badges, caps, shoes and other belongings of the FC soldiers lay scattered around the main gate of the training centre as large contingents of the Army, FC and police cordoned off the area.

The road in front of the training centre that connects Peshawar and Charsadda with Mohmand Agency was blocked and the Shabqadar Bazaar was closed after the attacks. Around 20 shops and 15 vehicles were also destroyed or damaged in the twin blasts.

Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour said the attack could be a reaction to the recent Abbottabad operation against Osama bin Laden. He said 69 of those killed were FC soldiers while 11 were civilians.

FC Commandant Akbar Khan Hoti said the recruits were boarding vehicles to return home when the suicide bombers struck close to the soldiers. “Adequate security measures were taken and the recruits were being sent in groups of 15 for security reasons,” Akbar Hoti told reporters. He said 1,800 soldiers had completed their six-month training.

However, many have termed inadequate security as the major cause of the large number of casualties. “Why were the vehicles not taken inside the training centre? Were the drivers frisked, and the vehicles searched?” asked Alamzeb Khan, a relative of a wounded soldier. He said this was negligence on the part of security officials who were tasked with securing the FC fortress and the recruits.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters there were reports the first bomb was planted but later it was reported that both were suicide bombings. “All political parties should take a joint stand against this incident and to uproot terrorism in general,” he added.

Emergency was declared at the LRH and two other major hospitals of Peshawar as well as in Charsadda. Hundreds of people were seen coming to the hospitals to donate blood as authorities called for more blood donations. There were inadequate facilities available at the Civil Hospital, Shabqadar, where the wounded were initially rushed.

Trucks and pickups were used by locals to rush the wounded to hospitals before ambulances could arrive. Also the few available ambulances were not enough.

The hospitals were jam-packed with people looking for their loved ones. Women were seen at the hospital, walking from one corner to another to find out whether their sons were alive or not.

Collective funeral prayers for the deceased FC soldiers were held at the FC headquarters and attended by Bashir Ahmad Bilour, Akbar Hoti and other senior officials. Spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Ihsanullah Ihsan called journalists in Peshawar to claim responsibility for the attacks. He said this was just the beginning and security forces must be ready for more such attacks.

The blast was more intense than the one outside a food distribution point in Mohmand Agency in July last year, in which around 105 people were killed and several wounded. Security around police buildings in Peshawar and other parts of the province was increased after the Mohmand attack. More cops were deployed at checkpoints and were directed to properly search suspicious vehicles entering the provincial capital.

A large number of the slain recruits hailed from Orakzai Agency and were identified as Kifayatullah, Muhammad Shoaib, Muhammad Amin, Alif Sheer, Ihsan, Muhammad Zareen, Fazal Amin, Ahmad Khan, Ajmal Khan, Muhammad Hayat, Siraj Ali and Yaseen.

Wajidur Rahman hailed from Hangu district, while two others identified as Qaiser Abbas and Subhan were residents of Kachai area in Kohat district. Eight persons from Dera Ismail Khan district were killed and three others sustained injuries in the suicide attack.

The injured included Zahid Iqbal of Lakki Marwat, Najib-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Amin of Bannu, Wahid-ur-Rehman of Orakzai, Aftab of Lakki Marwat, Altaf Hussain of Dir, Amjad Orakzai, Zakirullah of Waziristan, Hidayatullah Khyer of Qalamkhel, Umar Ayaz, Anwarullah Orakzai, Hukam Khan of Bannu, Asmatullah of Tank, Nadir Khan of DI Khan, Muhammad Zarin, Jamil Orakzai, Ghausullah, Abidullah of Bannu, Mohammad Shakeel of Bara, Aurangzeb of Lakki Marwat, Muhammad Shoaib Orakzai, Syed Qamar Abbas of Kohat, Afsar Ali, Mian Badshah, Ihsan Orakzai, Naeemullah, Irfanullah of Karak, Mohammad Aamir of DI Khan, Mohammad Yasin of Hangu, Kazim Ali, Imtiaz Ali of Orakzai, Fazal Amin, Farooq of Hangu, Aurangzeb of DI Khan, Imran of Charsadda, Nauroz Khan of Bannu, Habibullah, Wajid-ur-Rehman of Orakzai, Karamatullah of Lakki Marwat, Azizullah, Murad Khan, Sadar Shaheed, Noor Alam of Bannu, Sakhi Marjan of Lakki Marwat, Munawar Khan, Mohibullah of Tank, Kifayatullah, Siraj Hussain Orakzai, Sadiq-ur-Rehman, Masoom Khan, Saifullah of Lakki Marwat, Niaz Wali, Mir Alam, Shabbir, Fazal Sher, Jamroz and Haji Gul of Shabqadar.

The FC has played a major role in fighting the war on terror along with the Army and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police for the past many years. The force lost one of its chiefs, Safwat Ghayyur, in a suicide bomb attack just outside his office in Peshawar in August last year. The force is deployed in troubled areas to control the law and order situation with other local forces.The news