"It was a terrorist attack, We are looking for the owner of the vehicle, as the driver was killed in the blast,"Peshawar, Pakistan (ANTARA News/AFP) - A timed bomb blast in a minibus that killed 18 people in Pakistan`s northwest on Monday targeted a Shiite Muslim leader accused of sectarian killings in the area, police told AFP.
The deadly blast in Jawarza, near the restive town of Hangu, killed 16 passengers travelling in the explosives-laden minibus and two people in a pick-up truck nearby.
Another eight people were hospitalised with injuries, four of them in critical condition, said senior police officer Masood Khan Afridi.
The target of the bombing was apparently Shiite leader Kamil Ali Shah, who Afridi said was blamed for the killings of four Sunni Muslims in Hangu district in September.
"Shah, along with three co-accused in the case, was on his way to Kohat for a hearing at an anti-terrorism court," when the bomb detonated and all four were killed in the blast, along with several others, Afridi said.
"It was sectarian violence," he said.
A second police official confirmed the account, but no group has claimed responsibility yet for the incident.
District police chief Abdul Rashid said about 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives had been planted in the minibus.
"The report of the bomb disposal squad shows that explosive materials fitted with a timer were placed near the gas cylinders which caused the explosion," Rashid told AFP from the scene.
The mangled and burned-out wreckage of the minibus and another passenger vehicle were left at the scene.
Senior police official Masood Khan Afridi confirmed that the blast was caused by high-intensity explosives.
"It was a terrorist attack," he said. "We are looking for the owner of the vehicle, as the driver was killed in the blast," he added.
In the same militant-hit district of Hangu on Friday, a female police constable was killed along with five of her relatives in a pre-dawn raid on her house by attackers armed with rockets and rifles.
The area borders the deeply conservative tribal region of Kurram, a lawless region on the Afghan border where entrenched militants oppose jobs and education for women.
Two days earlier a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police station in nearby Bannu, killing 18 people, mostly security officials, and wounding 15 others.
The Taliban are engaged in a campaign of violence against security forces in Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led "war against terror", claiming many attacks in revenge for US drone strikes on the rugged tribal areas.
The United States does not officially confirm the controversial missile strikes, which take place with Islamabad`s tacit approval.
Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces launched an attack against militants in a mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
The bombings have been blamed on terror networks linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
