Pakistan suicide attack leaves 14 dead

ISLAMABAD, Friday

At least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan, the latest assault targeting Pakistan’s legal community.

The bomber shot his way through the main gate leading to the district court before throwing a grenade and detonating his suicide vest among the morning crowds, senior police official Ejaz Khan told reporters.

Rescuers picked their way through scattered human remains and blood-stained office equipment and files to collect survivors.

Amir Hussain, president of the Mardan Bar Association, said he was in a nearby room when the bomb went off.

“There was dust everywhere, and people were crying loud with pain,” he said.

His suit drenched in blood, he added: “I started picking up the wounded and putting them in cars to take them to hospital. I did not know if the people I was rescuing were dead or alive.”

He added that lawyers were being targeted because they were an important part of democracy, and terrorists were opposed to democracy.

“Our morale is not dented. It is still high,” he said.

Nasir Khan Durrani, provincial police chief, said the death toll had reached 14, with at least 58 people wounded, three of whom were critical.

Officials said the bomber had up to eight kilogrammes of explosives packed in his vest. The dead included lawyers and police.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes three weeks after a massive suicide blast killed scores of lawyers in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, in Balochistan.

Friday’s blast came as security forces fended off four suicide bombers who were trying to attack a Christian colony near the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial capital of Peshawar, 60 kilometres to the west of Mardan.

BOLSTER SECURITY MEASURES
The four attackers were killed along with a guard at the entrance to the colony, an army statement said.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attempt.

The group has also said it was behind the attack on lawyers in Quetta, which killed 73 people on August 8, as well as the Lahore Easter bombing which killed 75 people in Pakistan’s deadliest attack this year.

Discrimination and violence against religious minorities is commonplace in Pakistan, where Muslims account for more than 90 per cent of the population, while members of the legal community are also frequently the subjects of targeted killings.

“The attacks are a horrific reminder that Pakistani authorities must do more to ensure vulnerable groups are protected,” said Amnesty International South Asia director Champa Patel.

“Armed groups are seeking to undermine the rule of law by targeting the people who defend it in court and the people it should protect.”

The Pakistani Taliban routinely target minority groups and soft targets like courts and schools.

Militants stormed a school in Peshawar in December 2014, killing more than 150 people, mostly children, in Pakistan’s deadliest-ever terror attack.

The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the tribal areas.