FAISALABAD: Twenty-four people were killed and about 132 injured in a bomb blast here in the Civil Lines area on Tuesday.
A car loaded with explosives material blew up at about 10:30 am near a CNG station in front of the PIA cargo office near Regency Plaza Chowk.
The blast caused a 7-foot deep and 15-foot wide crater in the ground besides damaging the CNG station, three buildings and 10 vehicles.
On information, Rescue 1122 rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to the district headquarters hospital and Allied Hospital.
Police also reached the spot, cordoned off the area and arrested a suspect who was injured in the incident.
Police officers including Regional Police Officer (RPO) Aftab Ahmad Cheema, City Police Officer (CPO) Dr Usman Anwar, Divisional Commissioner Tahir Husain and the district coordination officer also reached the spot and monitired rescue and relief activities.
Talking to the media, RPO Aftab Ahmad Cheema said it was not a suicide attack. The accused used 40 kilogram explosives material in the blast, an officer of the bomb disposal squad said.
Divisional Commissioner Tahir Husain confirmed the death toll and said the explosion was not a terror attack.
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) staff also rushed to the spot and controlled gas leaks from cylinders of the damaged vehicles and the CNG Station.
The damage could have been severer if gas leaks had not been plugged timely as 100 cylinders filled with gas were near the blast spot and some of them started leaking, police sources said.
Eye-witnesses said that pieces of many bodies were scattered everywhere near the bomb blast.
Meanwhile, emergency was declared in DHQ and Allied Hospital and a large number of people gathered there to donate blood to the victims.
Sources said that 107 injured people were brought to the DHQ hospital while 25 injured and 19 bodies were shifted to the Allied Hospital.
Former Provincial Minister Ch Zaheer-ud-Din and DCO Naseem Sadiq visited the DHQ hospital to inquire after the injured.
They condemned the bomb blast and directed the hospital administration to provide best treatment to the injured.
The rescue operation still continues but no more casualties are expected, a spokesman of Rescue 1122 said.
NAMES OF INJURED PEOPLE IN BLAST
The injured people who were shifted to the DHQ hospital include Muhammad Haneef, Muhammad Waseem, Khurram Abbas, Muhammad Rafiq, Umar Hayat, Wajid Ali, Khalid Javaid, Imtiaz Ali, Muhammad Siddique, Muhammad Saqib, Muhammad Hayat, Mukhtar Ali, Abdur Razzaq, Muhammad Shafique, Muhammad Hameed, Arshad Ali, Aslam Siddique, Muhammad Shahid, Tanveer Husian, Akmal Shehzad, Muhammad Saleem, Naeem Baloch, Safdar Masroor, Zahid Hameed, Imran Younus, Yasmeen Akhtar, Zia Ullah Khan, Irfan Hafeez, Muhammad Shahid, Azhar Iqbal, Muhammad Rafique, Fahad, Ghulam Fareed, Abid Husain, Khalid Bashir, Ajmal Zafar, Zafar Aslam, Abdul Khaliq, Nadeem Iqbal, Naseer Baloch, Muhammad Safdar, Abid Husain, Ajmal Iqbal, Asif Mukhtar, Muhammad Saleem, Ahmad Ullah, Naeem Ullah, Kashif Nadeem, Muhammad Yaseen, Babo son Nazar Ali, Khalid Parvaiz, Waqqar Shah, Abdul Qayyum, Sajid Mehmood, Temoor Jabbar, Muhammad Arshad, Ghulam Murtaza, Sikandar Rabnawaz, Sher Muhammad, Saleem Ullah, Nazar Ahmad, Ata Ullah, Muhammad Iqbal, Naeem Haidar, Ali Abad, Muhammad Ali and Furqan Ahmad.
Meanwhile, the injured people shifted to Allied Hospital include Usman Khursheed, Fareed Ullah Khan, Kashif Iqbal, Imtiaz Yar, Muhammad Azhar, Abdul Majeed, Muhammad Yaqoob, Asim Ali, Muhammad Ashraf, Muhammad Saleem, Sajid Iqbal, Muneer Husain, Muhammad Nazar, Muhammad Ejaz, Muhammad Ashraf, Rehmat Ali, Bushra Bibi wife of Muhammad Ashraf, Qamar Zaman, Asad-ur-Rehman son of Maulana Saeed-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Asghar, Kashif Ali, Muhammad Iqbal, Abbas Maseih and Abdus Samad.
Comments
Comments are closed.