PESHAWAR - As many as 12 people were killed while another 18 were injured when a remote-controlled explosive device planted in a vehicle went off in Mattni Bazaar of Peshawar here on Friday evening.
Sources said the bomb was planted in a double-cabin vehicle, parked near a workshop of Mattni Bazaar.
Body parts of the victims were found scattered around the blast site after the blast. The vehicle wherein the explosive device was planted completely destroyed while a portion of the nearby workshop was also hit.
Soon after the incident, Edhi ambulances and Rescue 1122 rushed to the area and shifted the bodies to Lady Reading Hospital. Police and bomb disposal squad also rushed to the blast site and cordoned off the area.
The blast caused fear and panic among the residents and they immediately reached the site to search for their near and dear ones. Moving scenes were also witnessed when the bodies and the injured were rushed to the hospital.
Relatives of the dead victims faced severe difficulties in shifting the bodies back from the hospital to their homes as there were a lack of transport facility and ambulances. They also exchanged harsh words with the police personnel deployed at the hospital.
According to the bomb disposal squad, around 30-40 kilogram explosive material was used in the attack.
Talking to the media, SP Rural Khurshed Khan said that the police had arrested 40 suspects from the site. According to TV channels, Political Tehsildar of a North Waziristan Agency sub-division Hashim and several of his family members were among the dead.
AFP adds from Khar: Pakistani Taliban released a video showing what appeared to be the severed heads of a dozen soldiers on Friday as security officials said 15 troops were missing following fighting with militants.
The clashes on Tuesday came as part of a Pakistan army operation to repel Taliban militants who had crossed over from Kunar province in Afghanistan last Friday and occupied the village of Batwar in the Bajaur tribal district.
“At least 15 of our soldiers are still missing,” a senior security official told AFP.
Another security official said ‘more or less’ that many soldiers were missing but declined to give the exact total.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Sirajud Din sent AFP a video showing a militant commander posing with 12 heads arranged on the ground which he claimed were from soldiers they had killed. “Praise be to God that the Mujahideen in Bajaur agency have managed to kill the infidel soldiers of Pakistan,” he says.
“Many of them were killed by bullets, 12 of them as you see have been beheaded, you see 12 heads here, and more heads are on the way.”
The commander, his face unmasked and wearing traditional tribal dress, is flanked in the footage by around a dozen armed men including one wielding a huge axe.
The video showed belongings from the dead men laid out on a sheet, including identity cards, camouflage pattern helmets, Pakistani currency, mobile phones and bank cards.
Military sources have so far not said whether they are the missing soldiers or confirmed that those shown in the video are Pakistani troops.
The speaker said they had been killed to avenge ‘brutalities’ carried out by Pakistani troops.
In July the TTP released a video showing the heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers they claimed to have killed in a cross-border attack on a checkpost in Upper Dir.
Intelligence officials blamed that attack on loyalists of Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who fled to Afghanistan after losing control of the Swat Valley to the army.
Staff Reporter from Orakzai Agency adds: At least 14 militants including a key commander were killed and seven others sustained injuries in clashes as security forces attacked their hideouts in lower and upper tehsil of Orakzai Agency on Friday.
According to details, in the first incident, forces and militants clashed at Gul Kada area in Mamozai situated in upper tehsil of Orakzai Agency.
Both the sides used heavy weapons.
Resultantly, eight militants including a key militant commander Ishaq were killed, while four other militants sustained injuries.
Forces arrested the injured militants and shifted them to unknown location for interrogation.
In the second incident, forces used heavy artillery and targeted militants positions at Och Pull area in lower tehsil of Orakzai Agency.
As a result six militants were killed and 3 others got injuries. Reportedly three hideouts of the militants were destroyed completely. Later, forces conducted a search action in the area.
Meanwhile, unidentified armed assailants killed a tribal elder Zarin Mir at Feroz Khel area of Orakzai Agency.
Zarin Mir after attending Friday prayers was on his way home when ambushed by armed unknown assailants.
He was a prominent elder of Feroz Khel tribe of Orakzai Agency.
Political administration of the agency confirmed the incident and started investigations.

Car bomb kills 12 in Peshawar