PESHAWAR: Unknown assailants hurled a hand grenade at the house of a journalist here at Murshidabad on Sunday morning. However, the journalist, Jamshid Baghwan, remained unhurt. The blast also damaged nearby houses in the area.

“I was asleep when I heard a loud blast outside the main gate of my residence. As I came out there was smoke and dust hovering over the houses in the locality,” Mr Baghwan, who is bureau chief of Expressnews, told Dawn.

Quoting eyewitnesses, he said the attacker escaped on a motorcycle from the street.

He said his family had no enmity with anyone. He said that on March 19 a bomb had been recovered from outside his residence, but no one was arrested so far.

When contacted officials of Yakatoot police station said that Bomb Disposal Unit personnel had visited the crime scene and confirmed that it was hand grenade attack.

Meanwhile, various journalists’ bodies, including Khyber Union of Journalists and Peshawar Press Club, Safma and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, have announced that protest demonstrations against the attack would be held at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday (today).

Meanwhile, many motorcyclists were detained for hours despite having relevant documents as part of security measures during the weekly round of the Sehat ka Insaf programme on Sunday. Personnel of police and Frontier Constabulary were deployed at different entry and exit points of Peshawar.