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IED blast kills 3 people in NW Pakistan

26 July 2012 22:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least three people were killed and four others got injured on Thursday night when a bomb blast hit Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region of Khyber Agency, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

According to the reports, the blast took place in the center of a banned militant organization Lashkar-e-Islam in the Akka Khel area of Khyber Agency, Pakistan’s tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The improvised explosive device (IED) was fixed near a mosque and was triggered by a remote-controlled device when people were coming out of the mosque after offering prayer.

In the result of the explosion three people were killed on the spot while four others got injured and were shifted to the nearby hospital.

Local administrator told local Urdu TV channel Dawn News that all the killed and injured persons were the loyalists of the Lashkar-e-Islam, a union of Islamist and criminal gangs operating with thousands of members.

No group or militant organization claimed responsibility for the blast yet.

In March this year, a suicide bomber blew himself in front of a mosque, killing five, in the same area when the members of the militant organization were leaving after the pray.

The March attack came right three weeks after a similar suicide bomb attack another mosque of Lashkar-e-Islam in Tirah Valley of the Khyber Agency that killed 22 people and injured over a dozen others.

Akka Khel appeared as a restive area where the rival Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-Islam, and other local militant groups and criminal gangs have been fighting against each other to control the region which is a key route of NATO supplies to Afghanistan.

The leaders of the Lashkar-e-Islam have been blaming TTP for such attacks on their centers.