Blast in a religious seminary in Pakistan’s northern city of Peshawar killed at least seven people including many children and wounded 83 others, officials have said.
The deadly explosion happened around 8:30am at Jamia Zuberia Madressah,in Peshawar’s Dir Colony where approximately 500 students were assembled to attend a Qu’ran class. The majority of the students were between 20 and 30 years old.
Police superintendent Waqar Azeem Kharal said the blast had been caused by high quality explosives brought into the madrassa lecture hall at a bag.
At least four children are thought to be one of the dead and at least two teachers have been wounded, ” said a police official.
The dead and injured, many suffering from severe burns in the burst, were attracted to nearby Lady Reading hospital, that was put under red alert.
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Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson Mohammad Asim said:”We’ve obtained seven dead bodies. 83 are injured and from the 5 have been changed to Hayatabad burn centre as they were seriously burnt. Initially we had to deal with the aggression of folks who lost their family in the blast but we are in a better position.”
The madrassa is mostly for adult students and many were analyzing when the blast happened, said city resident Abdul Rahim, whose said his 27-year old cousin was among the injured.
“He advised us that they had been attending a class when the blast took place,” Rahim said.
The province has become the scene of such militant attacks in the last several years, but sectarian violence has killed or wounded individuals at mosques or even seminaries around Pakistan.
The latest attack comes two days after a bombing at the southwestern city of Quetta killed three people.
