Daily Times

At least 33 people were reported killed in a blast in Kalaya Bazaar area of Orakzai tribal district on Friday.

With some of the 35 injured in a critical condition, officials in charge of the rescue operation feared that the death toll might rise in the coming days.

Farooq Jamil, the KP health secretary, told the media that most of the critically wounded were shifted to hospitals in Kohat and Peshawar. He said all hospitals and staff were on high alert and assured that the injured were being provided with best medical facilities.

Giving details of the incident, Ajmal Wazir, the KP government spokesman, said the blast happened in a Friday Bazaar in morning rush hours when there a large number of customers doing groceries. He said that the security and rescue personnel immediately reached the blast site and shifted the dead and wounded to hospitals. He feared that death toll could surge as some of the wounded were in critical condition.

The explosive material was placed on a motorbike parked in front of a madrassa where a large number of people offer Friday prayers.

The area is mainly inhabited Shia Muslims, however, people from various Sunni schools of thought also visit it to shop at the marketplace.

Umar Orakzai, a local of Orakzai tribal region, said that three members of the Sikh community were also among the dead. “It was a powerful blast which jolted the whole area,” he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan categorically condemned the terrorists act. Pakistan Peoples Party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, while condemning the blast, called for implementation of the National Action Plan.

Shireen Mazari, the human rights minister, termed the attack a fallout from the US failure in Afghanistan, and called for “greater security for our tribal areas”.

The KP chief Minister Mahmood Khan while condemning the Orakzai blast said that all hospitals were on high alert to provide the wounded with best possible medical facilities.

Published in Daily Times, November 24^th 2018.