HANGU, Feb 13: The General Officer Commanding, Kohat, Major-Gen Gul Mohammad, has hinted at the involvement of “a foreign hand” in Thursday’s blast in Hangu, saying it was an act of terrorism “not a sectarian issue”.

Speaking at a press conference at the Orakzai Agency headquarters offices here on Monday, he said that peace had been restored in the troubled city with the cooperation of local clerics, elders of the town and tribal chiefs of Orakzai Agency.

“There is no curfew in the city. We have to maintain peace and open the roads,” the GOC said, adding that no incident of firing was reported from anywhere in the district.

When asked why so many checkpoints had been set up and why the people were not being allowed to go to the main bazaar if there was no curfew, Maj-Gen Gul Mohammad said that the measures had been taken to avert any untoward incident and prevent looting in the city.

Giving reasons for the deteriorating of the situation, the GOC said that Hangu district bordered three tribal agencies: Orakzai Agency, Kurram Agency and North Waziristan Agency. He said that the involvement of a “foreign hand” in the riot could not be ruled out.

He said that an inquiry had been initiated into the incident but admitted that no arrests had been made so far.

He said that heavy weapons, mainly rockets and mortars, were used during three days of clashes, and added that mortar shells and live rockets were still lying in some parts of the city, which posed potential danger to the residents.

Mr Gul said that army experts had been called to the city to defuse the shells. Work on defusing them would be started once the army received a green signal from higher authorities, he added.

He said that all roads, including the Thall-Hangu Road and Kohat-Hangu Road, had been opened for traffic and soldiers would provide security to vehicles as well as to people who were stranded and wanted to move out of the district.

He said that the army would provide security cover to public transport.

He said that the chief minister’s inspection team would visit the affected areas on Tuesday to assess the damages inflicted to private and public property during the riots.