March 29, 2006	Wednesday	Safar 28, 1427

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PESHAWAR, March 28: One person was killed and 16 others injured when a powerful bomb went off in the Khyber Bazaar area here on Tuesday evening. “The bomb, planted in an old motorcycle, appeared to be a time device of about 1.5 kg of TNT,” said a bomb disposal squad official.

Edhi Trust ambulances reached the site of the blast and rushed the injured persons to the nearby Lady Reading Hospital. Doctors said that six persons brought to the hospital were in a critical condition.

The deceased was identified as police constable Muhammad Sher, a resident of Mardan district. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition and had expired there.

Eyewitnesses told Dawn that an old motorbike was parked at 5:00pm in front of the multi-storey Haroon Mansion where the offices of many lawyers and businessmen were located.

“At 5:15pm, the bomb exploded with a big bang,” said Ali Hasan, manager of Khyber Travelling Agency, which was also damaged in the blast. Four cars and two bikes parked in front of the building were also destroyed, he said. Window panes and doors of adjacent plazas were also smashed.

NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has announced Rs100,000 for the family of the constable, Rs50,000 for those seriously injured and Rs25,000 to others hurt in the blast.

“Yes, it is terrorism .... like other parts of the country,” NWFP police chief Riffat Pasha told Dawn.

Police said it had received information that terrorists were planning an attack in the city and had accordingly tightened security. To a question about the security alert around US Consulate in Peshawar after threats, Mr Pasha said: “It will be premature to link this blast with the US mission.”

However, a former lawmaker from Khyber Agency Latif Afridi, who is a senior lawyer and leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), claimed that he was the target of an attack by his rivals.

A senior police official said the motorbike was parked near two cars of Latif Afridi, which were destroyed in the blast.

The former parliamentarian registered a case with East-Cantt police station in the evening and linked two of his rivals Zahid Syal and Johar Hashim, both residents of Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency with the attack.

Police have registered a case under sections 324, 427/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 3/4 Explosive Substance Act and 7 Anti-Terrorism Act.

Hakim Khan of the bomb disposal squad said that it was a time device which carried 1.5 kilograms of explosive material. “We have collected parts of the bomb and will check them in the laboratory,” Mr Khan added.