Suicide bomber kills 20 at Shia trust-run hospital in Hangu

HANGU - Twenty people, including two women and three policemen, were killed and sixteen others injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a hospital in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Sources said that the suicide bomber blew up his explosive packed tractor in front of the under-construction Zohra Hospital in Pass Kaly village of Hangu district on Friday, The Nation reported.

The blast caused severe fear and panic among the masses, besides jolting the entire area and damaging around six houses.

According to officials, Shiite Muslims were praying in a room inside the hospital when the bomb exploded.

Soon after the blast, rescue teams rushed to the site and retrieved the dead and the injured, and shifted them to District Headquarter Hospital, Hangu, while critically injured persons were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar.

Police, bomb disposal squad and army personnel also rushed towards the site and cordoned off the area.

Talking to media persons, District Police Chief Abdul Rashid confirmed that it was a suicide blast, adding that the hospital was being run by a private Shiite Muslim trust, which also operated a nearby Shiite mosque and seminary.

Hangu is one of the sensitive areas in Pakistan, as it is attached with three tribal agencies- Kurram, North Waziristan and Orakzai. (ANI)