A bomb placed in a car exploded and killed three people and injured around twenty individuals on 17th February 2012. As reported by the local officials, the explosion was assisted with a remote controlled bomb, which was placed in a sensitive area of Khyber near Afghan border amidst crowded market.
Jameel Ahmad, one of the officials, said that the bomb was planted beneath a car and was detonated by remote control in Jmarud, which is counted among the main towns of Khyber. This place is located around two kilometres from north-east of Landi Kotal, which is the main town of Khyber tribal region. He also commented that no one has taken the responsibility for this incident so far. Ismat Ullah, another local official, confirmed the incident and casualties.
The eye witness said that most of the vehicles and shops were destroyed in the blast. Most of the affected people were civilians. The officials of domestic police administrator said that 20 civilians in the vicinity of the car were wounded severely. According to them, the car was parked at a workshop in the busy market and attackers were probably inclined to target the stadium wherein a religious event was scheduled a day after. Although no group has owned up to the incident, the officials blame it on militants. The Khyber region houses both the Pakistani Talibani and the militants, which are from the banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Islam that means the army of Islam.
The Khyber region is bordered with Afghanistan, which was used as a critical supply route for NATO forces in Afghanistan. The supply ways of foreign troops were closed by the government of Afghanistan in November 2011, after the air attack from cross border NATO that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The district also shares its boundaries with the city of Peshawar, which is a consistent target of Al Qaeda and Taliban for bombings. The US officials believes that the north-western Pakistan is home to Taliban and Al Qaeda militants who escaped from the scene during the US led invasion in Afghanistan. On the other hand, Pakistan is also working towards flushing out militants through several operations from the past two years.
