KOHAT: Six people were killed and 17 others injured in a remote-controlled blast at a taxi stand here on Saturday, officials said.

An improvised explosive device containing ball bearings and weighing about three kilograms was kept in a ghee tin, they said, adding that terrorists left the tin near a wall of the taxi stand at Peshawar Mor.

The Suzuki pick-up stand is mainly used by residents of Shia-dominated villages along the Hangu Road.

The blast occurred at around 11am, killing six people and injuring 17 others. The bodies and the injured were taken to the nearby Liaquat Memorial Hospital.

Three vehicles parked at the stand were damaged by the impact of the explosion and traffic on Hangu Road and Peshawar Road remained suspended for quite some time.

Police cordoned off the scene of the explosion and called in the bomb disposal squad personnel who inspected the devastation and confirmed the IED had been planted in the ghee tin.

The local administration declared emergency at all hospitals in Kohat after the blast.

Bodies were handed over to relatives and later buried in Ustarzai, Alizai, Kachai and Chakarkot villages.

No group claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion.

The deceased were identified as Shabbir Ali, Qambar Abbas, Mehtab Hussain, Taimoor, Syed Shahzain Hussain and Emman.

The injured were Mohammad Hussain, Sajid Fareed, Shahzia, Mudassir, Shahan Hussain, Nusrat Hussain, Hassan Jan, Amir Hamza, Tahir Ali, Said Mohammad, Roohullah, Mohammad Hussain, Qasim, Sajid Ali, Ali Ghulam Mustafa, Salma and Baz Mohammad.

The city police registered a case against unidentified terrorists under sections 302, 324 and 427 and Explosives Act and Anti-Terrorism Act.

Fourteen people were killed and 16 injured when a bomb went off at the same place on Feb 23, 2014.

AFP adds: Fazal Khaliq, head of the emergency department at Kohat’s main government hospital, confirmed the death toll.

It is the second attack on a passenger vehicle to hit northwest Pakistan in a week.

On Thursday, a bomb blast on a coach in Peshawar killed at least seven people and wounded another six.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2014