Akhtar Hayat, the provincial police chief, stated that the reason of the explosions in the northwest Swat valley was yet unknown
Explosions at the Countering Terrorism Department (CTD) police headquarters in Pakistan’s Swat on Monday resulted in at least 12 police officers being killed and more than 40 others being hurt, according to a report by Geo TV, which cited the police.
According to the police, the structure was damaged by two explosions within the police station. The Swat valley in northwest Pakistan was long under the influence of Islamist terrorists before they were driven out in a military campaign in 2009. The explosions shook the anti-terrorism office there.
About the SWAT blast
According to Akhtar Hayat Khan, the Chief Inspector of Police for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, security personnel were on “high alert” across the province. According to CTD DIG Khalid Sohail, who spoke to Geo News, the explosion happened where weapons and mortar rounds were kept, and it was “not a suicide attack.” He said that the police station was neither attacked or fired upon.
He stated that bomb disposal teams were on the scene of the explosion to investigate the incident and that the root cause of the explosion was being looked into. According to the CTD DIG, the majority of the offices and staff were housed in a newer structure, whereas the building that fell was an older one.
The magnitude of the power outage brought on by the building’s fall was unknown. The most likely cause of the burning ammo was an electrical short-circuit. There hasn’t been any proof of an outside attack so far. The Pakistani military and police have a sizable counterterrorism presence in the valley, which has been vulnerable to insurgency.
In the picturesque region where Mullah Fazlullah, the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was born and later wounded in a shooting in adjacent Afghanistan in 2018, Malala Yousafzai was also targeted by the extremists in 2012. Investigations into the explosions’ other components are ongoing. Hospitals in Swat were placed under a state of emergency by the provincial health department.
Officials statement
Shafi Ullah Gandapur, a district police officer (DPO), asserted that a “suicide attempt” had occurred. Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, denounced the explosion and expressed his sorrow over the lives lost in response to the allegations of the attack. He also instructed the government to produce a report on the incident, according to Radio Pakistan, as reported by Geo News.
Initially referring to the explosions as a “suicide attack,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif later stated that “the nature of this blast is being investigated.” According to Hayat, a mother and kid who were walking past the building were both killed in the explosions, which also claimed the lives of a number of police counterterrorism personnel.
According to Sohail Khalid, the regional head of the counter-terrorism division, the blasts did not seem to be a suicide assault or another type of terrorist act.
He explained, “There was a shop where we had a large number of weapons, and up till now we feel that there might have been some blast in there due to some carelessness. We are keeping all of our possibilities open. The provincial rescue agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bilal Faizi said the hunt for additional injured was still in its early stages.
Attacks targeting Pakistan’s border regions with Afghanistan have dramatically increased since the Taliban took over the country. According to Islamabad, offensives are starting from Afghan territory.
