LAKKI MARWAT: A tragedy was averted on Thursday when a suicide vest worn by a suspected bomber exploded, killing no one but the suspect himself in Hathi Khan Killay near Naurang town.

“The village where the incident took place is located within the jurisdiction of Ghoriwala police station of Bannu district,” said a police official.

He added that the bomber could not reach his target as the explosives tied to his body went off when he was passing through a village road.

“Foolproof and tight security arrangements in the entire district helped avert the tragedy,” claimed the official, saying that DPO Qasim Ali Khan along with a heavy contingent of law enforcers and experts of bomb disposal unit reached the site of explosion when he got information about the incident. Deputy Commissioner Jehangir Azam Wazir also visited the place.

The official said that no casualty or damage to property was reported as a result of explosion. He said that body parts of the bomber were found scattered in the locality and police experts collected them and other evidence from the site of explosion.

“It is not yet clear what the exact target of the suicide bomber was, but policemen on patrolling duty might have been an apparent target,” he added.

The official dispelled the impression that the bomber was on a mission to target polio vaccinators.

He said that no polio team was present in the locality at the time of the blast. “Police have intensified security and begun a search operation in the area after the blast,” the official said.

A passer-by, Mohammad Amin, was slightly wounded in the blast in Hathi Khan Killay near Naurang town. The injured was shifted to a local hospital.

Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts of Khyber Pakhtun­khwa were among those terror-hit areas of the country which had witnessed a number of attacks on both civilians and security personnel in the past. The severest one was when a suicide attack had left around 100 peo­ple dead in January 2010.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2019