Bomb blasts in the North West Frontier Province - 2008

May 10: An explosion occurred in the Allah Dand area at the outskirts of Batkhela causing partial damage to the Ghaus-e-Azam mosque. According to police officials the bomb was planted outside the room of the mosque Imam Maulana Muhammad Javed, who escaped unhurt.

My 9: Three policemen were injured after a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into Mingora Police Station in the Swat district. The channel said the policemen tried to stop the car from entering the police station when the bomber detonated the explosives. The power supply to Mingora city was suspended.

Three security force personnel were injured when a landmine exploded near Darra Adamkhel when an army convoy was passing through the Shini Kali bridge.

May 6: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint in Bannu, killing a police constable and two civilians and injuring 12 persons, including four army soldiers and four policemen.

May 5: Unidentified terrorists blew up a CD shop in the Ziarat Kaka Sahib area of Naushera district. The explosion destroyed all the CDs and equipment in the shop and also partly damaged another shop. No casualty was reported.

May 2: At least three persons were injured in bomb blasts in the Wazir Dhand area. Sources reported that three bombs exploded at around 9:00pm in the Aziz and Shah Noor Markets, arms markets near Karkhano Market, and injured three people, including two Afghan refugees. According to sources, there had earlier been significant pressure from the Lashkar-e-Islam group to shut down "illegal" liquor, music, and hashish shops, some of which were still operating until April 2008.

Unidentified militants blew up a music CD centre, along with 16 other shops, in the Kabal administrative division of Swat district. The remote-controlled device, which went off in the Kala Kilay area and destroyed the music centre, caused millions of rupees worth of lost property. Separately, police said that a bomb disposal squad had defused a 20-kilogram bomb.

April 25: At least three people were killed and 26 injured when a car bomb exploded near Mardan City Police Station in the NWFP. Mardan district Superintendent of Police Ijaz Abid said the bomb, planted in a car parked near the police station, detonated around 6am, killing two civilians and a police official, and injuring around 17 policemen and nine civilians. He also said that nearly 35 to 40 kilograms of explosives were used and the police station and adjacent shops were badly damaged. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack. "This attack was carried out by our mujahideen to avenge the earlier killing of one of our commanders by police in Mardan," TTP spokesman Maulana Omar told Reuters by telephone.

April 7: Unidentified people exploded a bomb near an under-construction police station in the Hoti area of Mardan, destroying its building partially. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. The police station which was in the last stage of its completion had cost PKR 20 million so far.

April 5: Two children were injured in a hand grenade blast in a madrassa in the Sorani area of Bannu. The blast occurred in Darul Uloom Arabia located in the Sorani area – hometown of former NWFP chief minister Akram Khan Durrani.

April 3: Militants blew up four CD shops within the Badabher Police Station precinct of Peshawar. Militants planted four homemade bombs in front of the CD shops in the Baroo Stop area on Kohat Road, sources said. The blasts, which occurred at around 2pm, damaged the shops and shredded their shutters. However, no casualties were reported.

April 2: Militants blew up a school building and a portion of a check-post in Darra Adam Khel. Local elder Mohammad Akbar said three rooms of the Government Girls’ Middle School in the Kohi Wal locality were damaged in an explosion.

Another explosion occurred at the main hall of the Zarghunkhel check-post, damaging the infrastructure. Militants have so far reportedly damaged over a dozen school buildings and security posts in the area.

April 1: A bridge on the Indus Highway in Darra Adam Khel was damaged by two explosions. The explosions also damaged some nearby houses and shops. Ten people sustained minor injuries in these blasts.

March 31: Three policemen and a civilian were injured in a roadside bomb blast in the Swat district. The policemen were returning to the Kanjoo police post after defusing a bomb in Ningolai when the van they were traveling in hit a roadside bomb in Dherai. Police said they had arrested a militant commander after the blast.

Security forces arrested a suspected suicide bomber, identified as Saqib of Baffa area, from a place near the Shawal Najif Army Camp in the Mansehra district. They also claimed to have seized explosives.

An official source said two would-be suicide bombers – Azeem Khan (31), and Akbar Ali, who is about 16-years-old – had entered Mingora.

March 30: Suspected militants blew up two girl schools in Shiraki and Zargonkhel and one Khasadar check-post in Darra Adam Khel. However, no loss of life has been reported.

Militants detonated a remote-controlled bomb near the Saidu Sharif police post, damaging the building partially. However, no casualty was reported in the incidents.

Militants also blew up a mobile phone shop in Lakki Marwat with explosives. However, no casualty was reported in the incidents.

March 28: The DPO in Buner, Abdul Ghafoor Khan Afridi, narrowly escaped while two boys sustained injuries in a roadside explosion. Police said that as soon as the DPO arrived to inspect the site of Abubakar Sadeeq Mosque in Pir Baba bazaar, a remote-controlled bomb exploded. The DPO and his guard remained unhurt but the vehicle in which they were traveling was partially damaged. The shrapnel of the bomb hit a nearby car, causing injuries to two youths, Said Nawab and his nephew Kamran.

March 26: Traffic between Matta and Khawaz Khela was disrupted after unidentified men blew up a bridge that linked the two towns of Swat district. The blast damaged a portion of Gaman Bridge, situated near a security check-post.

March 23: Militants blew up a post of Khasaddar Force in the Sheraki area.

March 22: Militants blew up two government girls’ schools and the main transmission line in Darra Adam Khel. Local people said that the buildings of two middle schools for girls in Ferozkhel and Bazikhel localities were damaged by the blasts. Officials said that militants had earlier distributed pamphlets in the area warning the administration to close down the schools by March 20. The administration of two skill centres for girls in the area has also been warned to wind up activities or face consequences. A high transmission line damaged in the said area, plunged the Darra town and parts of Kohat district into darkness.

March 17: Two policemen, Toor Gul and Aanayatur Rehman, were killed and five others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself in the police barracks in Mingora in the Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said that a young man posing as a recruit and holding a police uniform entered the barracks at Mingora Police Line and subsequently approached the wireless room and blew himself up.

March 16: One policeman was killed and eight others sustained injuries after a police van hit an explosive device in the Dobai Ada area of Mardan district. The vehicle of the Choora police station was on routine patrol when it hit the bomb activated by a remote control.

Unidentified militants targeted security posts and government infrastructure in Darra Adam Khel, Kohat and Khar but no causality was reported. In the first incident, militants blew up a security post along the Indus Highway in Darra Adam Khel. Militants also blew up unmanned sales meter station of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on Dhodha road. Separately, a remote control bomb, planted by unidentified militants on a road near Sadiqabad in Khar, exploded but no casualty was reported.

Militants blew up the building of a girls’ high school in the Akhurwal area of Darra Adam Khel. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Local people said the school administration had earlier received letters warning them to close the institution. Handbills purportedly distributed by local militants two days ago again warned women to stop going to schools and join seminaries.

March 14: A 12-year-old boy, identified as Anees, was killed in a blast while retrieving a ball from a stream along a cricket ground in the Samay area of the Kabal sub-division in the Swat district.

A car was blown with a remote-controlled device planted at the roadside in the Teghak area of Matta sub-division, injuring a man and his son.

Abdullah Khan, while driving his car, was also targeted by a remote-controlled bomb, planted at the roadside near Rahat Kot. He, however, remained unhurt in the blast which completely destroyed his vehicle.

Six police personnel sustained injuries when unidentified people hurled a hand grenade at a police check-post on the Shakar Darra road in Kohat.

March 12: Policemen Mustafa and Suleman were killed and two others were wounded when the roadside bomb they were defusing exploded in the Charbagh area in the Swat district.

Two people, suspected to be Taliban facilitators, were killed when the bomb they were making exploded in the Kabal sub-division.

March 9: Militants blew up an oil tanker in Landi Kotal with dynamite, but the political administration said the tanker was safe. The tanker, which was to carry fuel to Afghanistan, was parked near the Michini check-post.

March 7: Militants attacked a police van with a remote-controlled bomb in the Kabal sub-division of Swat district, injuring a policeman and damaging the van. Police retaliated and later also raided the Kabal area and arrested three suspected militants and seized rocket launchers and other weapons from their possession.

March 2: Forty-two people were killed and at least 58 others sustained injuries in a suicide bombing at a tribal peace jirga (council) near the Zarghunkhel check-post in Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP. The jirga of Zarghunkhel, Akhurwal, Sheraki, Bostikhel and Toor Chapper tribes had been convened to discuss the formation of a Lashkar (army) to drive militants out of the area. A severed head was reportedly found at the site and officials believed it was that of the bomber. Some people identified the teenager as a youth from the Sheraki area of Darra Adam Khel.

Unidentified persons fired rockets at the cantonment area of Bannu. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

February 29: Forty people were killed and more than 75 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral prayers of the slain Deputy Superintendent of Police (Lakki Marwat), Javed Iqbal Khan, in the Mingora city of Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said the bomber was among the people taking part in the funeral. The blast occurred when the funeral concluded and the people had started to disperse. Deputy Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal, who died in a bomb blast along with three other policemen in the troubled southern Lakki Marwat district on February 29-morning, belonged to Makan Bagh in Mingora city.

A military convoy escaped a bomb blast while two shops were destroyed in another attack in Peshawar. In the first incident, high powered explosives went off in the limits of Matni police station which blew up a general store and a computer shop. The second explosive went off near the Sepan police check post at PAF Road. According to an official, it was a remote controlled bomb that exploded after a military convoy passed through the area.

February 28: At least five police personnel were injured when a bomb exploded on the Sawal Dher road in the Mardan district.

February 27: An improvised device exploded near an under-construction service station in Kohat. However, no casualties were reported.

February 22: A remote-controlled bomb exploded at a wedding party procession, killing 14 people and wounding 13 others, mostly children, in the Matta administrative division of Swat district. The bomb, which was detonated in the Ronial Takh Maira area of the region, exploded around 4pm (PST) when the wedding party was travelling from Kandogai village to Pir Dar Baba village. The bride, four children aged between five and 12 years, and four bystanders died instantly.

February 20: Three SF personnel were injured in a hand grenade attack at a military check-post in the Kohat cantonment.

February 19: A suspected militant was killed and two others were arrested when the SFs opened fire at alleged hideouts of militants after an IED explosion near an army convoy in the Darra Adam Khel town. Sources said that a SF convoy was passing through Gidaro area when an IED planted on the road exploded, leading to injuries to one soldier. After the explosion, the SF personnel opened indiscriminate fire, which resulted in the killing of one suspected militant.

February 17: In the Matta area of Swat, Deputy Superintendent of Police Haroon Babar escaped unhurt when his car was attacked with a series of remote controlled devices near Bara Bandai in the Kabal sub-division where he had gone to inspect polling stations. No casualty was reported.

February 16: At least three people were killed and 18 others injured when a powerful bomb blast rocked the Media Centre in the Mingora area of Swat district. Sources said that following the blast, gunfire erupted in the region and security forces cordoned off all the entry points to the area.

February 13: A roadside bomb blast hit an election campaign convoy in Swat, killing two people and injuring three others. Mufti Hussain Ahmed, an independent candidate contesting for the NA-30 and PF-86 seats, was among the wounded. "Ahmed was travelling in a convoy of 8-10 vehicles on a campaign when the blast occurred, killing two people," said senior police official Waqif Khan. The government has reportedly blamed several recent blasts on Baitullah Mehsud, but Mehsud’s spokesman Maulana Omar said that the local Taliban would not interfere in the elections and would not be involved in any attack before or on election-day.

February 9: Twenty-seven people were killed and over 30 injured in a suicide attack on an election rally at Nakai near Charsadda town. Senior Awami National Party leader Afrasiab Khattak, who was addressing the gathering, escaped unhurt. The Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan said, "I have been told that most probably it was a suicide attack."

February 3: Two bomb explosions damaged the house of Hidayat Ali Khan, a union council nazim (member), in the Kooza Bandai area of Kabal tehsil (administrative unit) of Swat district. However, no casualties were reported. The bombs were detonated with a remote control device, sources said.

January 31: A roadside bomb blast damaged a PAF truck at Akora Khattak in NWFP, but there were no casualties. "It was a remote controlled bomb planted between two roads. When the vehicle came close, unknown miscreants detonated the bomb," senior police official Mubarik Zeb said.

January 30: An explosion in a house in the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, killed three men who police said were making bombs when the explosives detonated prematurely. The blast occurred in the guestroom of a house located in the Badshah Dak area of Tauheed Colony in Phandu police precincts. "Initial evidence suggests that they were suicide attackers," police officer Farid Shah told AP. Gulbahar Deputy Superintendent of Police Ijaz Khan said the men were likely involved in an earlier attack on music shops in the Afridiabad area. He said police had detained one Ismail, originally from Lakary of Mohmand Agency, who had rented the house. The dead men included Ismail’s brother-in-law Saadullah and a cousin identified as Ali Rehman. The third body could not be identified. An AFP report said the men were 20 to 30 years old. Police seized a hand grenade, 10 kilograms of explosives, a pistol, three mobile phones, a dairy and religious literature from the house.

Two music shops were damaged in a bomb blast in the Afridiabad area of Peshawar. No casualties were reported. Police officials said that the shops were no longer selling music CDs. They said the owner of one of the shops had begun selling kebabs in his shop following violence against video and music stores.

January 29: A hand grenade was lobbed at the residence of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on the Dera Ismail Khan-Bannu road. Rehman remained unharmed. Rehman’s servant Muhammad stated that the explosion caused no damage as the grenade exploded outside the residence’s boundary wall. The JUI-F chief was at home at the time of the explosion, having just arrived from Saudi Arabia.

January 27: There were two successive bomb blasts in a CD market near Wakho Pul on the Kohat Road in Peshawar. However, no casualty was reported.

January 26: A convoy of army vehicles escaped casualties when a remote-controlled bomb went off in the Badabher area near Peshawar, eyewitnesses said, adding the soldiers opened fire seconds after the blast and blocked the highway for a few hours. People were seen fleeing the Darra area as military action there continued for the second consecutive day.

January 23: Three persons, including two female students, sustained injuries when a landmine, planted in front of a house in Bahadur Khel village in Karak, exploded. According to police, the explosion injured Gul Shahib Jan and two schoolgirls.

January 22: A bomb exploded near the Tajazai area in Lakki Marwat, close to an army base camp set up in the District Headquarters Hospital. However, there was no loss of life or damage to property. "It seems that the device planted along a road near the Tajazai graveyard was set off by remote-control," said the district police officer of Lakki Marwat. He said a military convoy had passed through the area two or three minutes before the explosion.

January 19: A bomb blast damaged a bridge on the Kohat-Hangu road without causing any casualties. The explosives packed in a pressure cooker had been planted under the Parachao Bridge close to the residence of district official Gohar Saifullah Khan.

January 18: A bomb exploded outside a CD shop in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, but no casualties were reported and the blast caused minimal damage. An official said that the explosives were placed outside the Gulab CD and Music Centre located within the Pandu Police Station jurisdiction.

January 17: At least 12 persons were killed and 25 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in an imambargah (congregation hall for Shia rituals) in Peshawar. Police said that the teenage bomber blew himself at the crowded Mirza Qasim Baig Imambargah in the Mohalla Janghi area at around 6.55pm (PST).

January 16: Four persons, including three children, were killed in a bomb blast near the Chashma Right Bank Canal in Dera Ismail Khan.

Security forces foiled an attempt by the militants to blow up one of their caravans at Nangolai in the Swat district. Col. Mohammad Nadeem stated that the caravan was heading towards Matta when the militants blew up a remote control device planted at the roadside. The security forces later cordoned off the area and arrested 19 suspected militants in the search operation.

January 14: A low intensity bomb exploded at a billiard club in the jurisdiction of Gulbahar police station in the provincial capital Peshawar. However no causality was reported.

January 13: A bomb blast occurred near the house of one Babrak in the Bachkan Ahmadzai village of Lakki Marwat district. However, there was no loss of life or damage to property, police said. This was the second explosion in the village in a fortnight.

January 8: In Buner district, two shops were destroyed when a bomb planted at a shop in a women’s shopping market in the Shalbandi Sharif village exploded. However, no casualty was reported as no one was around at the time of the explosion, officials said. This was the 13^th bomb blast in the Buner district and the first one targeting a women’s shopping market.

January 7: A suicide bomber blew himself up in an explosive-laden vehicle near a military base camp at Kabal in the Swat district of the NWFP, injuring 10 people, including eight soldiers. According to official sources, the suicide bomber was driving a single-cabin pick-up, which exploded at 11.15am in front of the gate of the Frontier Golf Club, a military base camp. The blast destroyed the building of a technical institute and partially damaged the buildings of the Iqra Academy. Security forces resorted to indiscriminate aerial fire in all directions after the incident, resulting in the killing of a college student named Imran Khan, residents said. However, Colonel Nadeem, the head of the Media Information Centre, rejected the eyewitness accounts as baseless.

Militants blew up 18 shops in the Jorre area of Buner district. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

January 6: A man was killed and six shops, including two video centres and two barber shops, destroyed in two successive bomb blasts in the Shiekh Mohammadi village of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Unidentified terrorists, according to the police, had planted explosives to blow up two CD centres and an equal number of barber shops near Tangu Adda in Shiekh Mohammadi village, located 10 kilometers south of the provincial metropolis.

January 1: Unidentified militants blew up a CD centre at the old bus stand in Kohat city of NWFP. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

An explosion damaged a portion of the house of a villager in the Bachkan Ahmadzai area of Lakki Marwat district.