Peshawar bus explosion: 15 killed, 30 injured
15 people were killed and 30 injured when a powerful bomb exploded on a bus carrying government employees in Pakistan's Peshawar. The security forces and police sealed off the entire area and commenced a search operation for those responsible. Forces revealed that about 8kg of explosives were used in the blast. Fear and panic spread among the residents after the news of the explosion.
Seven gunmen affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan. All the militants were foreign nationals and worked with the TTP in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan district. The attack left 141 people dead, including 132 schoolchildren. The TTP said the attacks were revenge for army's operations in North Waziristan which killed several innocent women and children.
After the 2014 Army Public School attack, the government began its crackdown on Taliban in Peshawar and has been successful in squeezing the terror group into small pockets.
Peshawar with the 5th largest population in Pakistan shares geographical proximity to Afghanistan and more notably North Waziristan, the home to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The city houses the XI Corps, an administrative wing of the Pakistan Army, which oversees all military action in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Pakistan Army is presently involved in a full-blown offensive against the North Waziristan terror organisations.
According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), in the first 5 months of 2015 there were "94 terrorism cases reported, over 4,600 suspects arrested and 138 search and strike operations conducted in Peshawar."
A group of militants killed 29 students and 1 faculty member in an attack on Bacha Khan University in north-west Pakistan. The gunmen used the thick cover of fog to scale the rear wall and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and accommodation blocks. The terrorists had been gunned down in counter-attack, and their main facilitator Waheed Ali arrested.
17 people were killed and 31 others injured in a crowded court in Shabqadar Bazaar of Charsadda district near Peshawar when a suicide bomber blew himself up. The suicide bomber had tried to enter the court but had been stopped outside. Previously, on 1 March 2016, a remote-controlled roadside bomb had killed 2 Pakistani employees of the United States Consulate near Peshawar.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack in Peshawar and expressed grief over the lIves lost. He further said that "these cowardly attacks cannot shatter our unflinching resolve against terrorism".
