KOHAT: A bomb blast in a camp for internally displaced persons in Hangu left seven people dead and 13 injured on Sunday.

The Mohammad Khawaja camp houses IDPs from Orakzai Agency. A girl was among those killed and three children among the injured.

Police quoted witnesses as saying that the bomb was rigged to a motorcycle parked outside a shop in the camp.

District Police Officer Anwar Saeed Kundi and DSP Hangu Falak Naz said that six kilograms of explosives had been used in the blast.

Officials said that soon after the blast a heavy contingent of police arrived at the camp and cordoned off the area. Kohat-Hangu road was closed by bomb disposal personnel for clearing the area.

Families displaced from Orakzai Agency have been living in the camp for six years. The army has claimed to have cleared 90 per cent of the agency, but the IDPs are reluctant to leave the camps for fear of militants returning to their areas.

Pro-govt elder killed in Bajaur attack

The dead were identified as Mohammad Siddique Khan, Khalil, Sher Khan, Lal Wali, Khalil, Shamsa Bibi and Sohail Khan.

The injured were taken to the Hangu District Hospital. Nine of them were identified as Hamza Gul, Sajida Bibi, Amra Bibi, Naimatullah Shah, Khalil Khan, Ilyas Khan, Sajidullah, Umra Bibi and Siddique Khan.

The Upper Orakzai Agency remains to be cleared of militants who have fiercely resisted security forces, especially their movements in Mamozai area.

Meanwhile, two people were injured when a bomb hit a coach near Parachgan Banda area. According to police, the coach was going to Stori Khel area from Kohat.

Driver Mohammad Saleem and passenger Gharas Khan were injured and taken to a hospital in Kohat.

Bomb disposal personnel said the bomb weighing about five kilograms was concealed in a canister. It expl­oded a few seconds before the coach reached the area.

Our Khar Correspondent adds: Gunmen shot dead on Sunday evening a pro-government tribal elder and member of the Salarzai Qaumi Lashkar in Bajaur Agency.

According to administration officials, Malik Gul Akbar was going home in his car when he came under attack in Dara, 28km northeast of Khar, the main town of Bajaur.

He and his driver were injured and taken to the agency headquarters hospital where Malik Akbar died. The driver was sent to a hospital in Peshawar because of his critical condition.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. Talking to reporters on phone from an unspecified place, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said Malik Akbar was on their hit list because of his anti-Taliban activities. “We will continue to attack those tribal elders who are raising Lashkar against Taliban,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 29th , 2014