MARDAN (Pakistan) – At least 26 people were killed and 45 injured when a suicide bomber struck the office of a National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) in Mardan.
The injured have been transferred to District Hospital Mardan and other nearby hospitals. “The blast was very powerful and its voice could be heard a long distance away,” media reported. The security forces have surrounded and sealed the area.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group Jamaatul Ahrar, which was also behind last year’s blast at Wagah border, claimed responsibility for the blast.
Around 8 kg to 10 kg of explosive material was used in the attack, officials of Bomb Disposal Unit said.
Deputy Inspector General Mardan Division Saeed Wazir told it was a suicide attack carried out by a bomber.
He said that a security guard posted at the office stopped the bomber at the gate, after which he detonated his suicide vest. He said that the attacker was on a motorbike and rammed it into the gate after being denied entry.
Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the terrorist attack at NADRA office Mardan in which precious lives were lost, PM expressed deep grief and sorrow over loss of innocent lives in the attack and prayed for eternal peace for the departed souls.
PTI chairman Imran Khan has also paid his sympathies to the family of targeted and condemned the blast severely.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan condemned the blast, and expressed sympathies with the bereaved families.
Mardan, which is situated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, has seen several terrorist attacks over the past several years — many of them targeting security officials.