By IRNA,
Peshawar : A suicide bomber Tuesday blew himself up near the car of a provincial minister and a sports stadium in the Pakistani northwestern city of Peshawar, killing three people, provincial information minister said.
Mian Iftikahr Hussain told reporters that seven other people were injured in the attack.
Provincial Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, who was with the senior Minister in the function, said that he saw fire and think smoke shortly after the attack.
“The senior minister and I escaped unhurt in the attack,” Hussain said.
He did not blame any group for the attack but said they are enemies of the peace.
Chief of the city’s Lady Readings hospital, Khizar Hayat, said that two bodies and 10 injured were brought to his hospital. Two injured are in critical condition, he said.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
But such attacks are blamed on local Taliban-linked militants.
Hospial sources said that one person died identified as Jamil Amjad was killed. The second dead could not be identified.
The blast took place at the end of national games at the city’s Qayyum Stadium, where governor North West Frontier Province Awais Ahmed Ghani was the chief guest at the function.
The blast took place shortly after the governor and senior provincial minister Bashir Bilor left the venue, police said.
“It is the work of those who want terrorism and extremism. We are not be terrified by such attacks,” the provincial information minister said.
Over 1000 players from the country’s four provinces took part in the Inter-Provincial Games and the concluding session was attended by thousands of people, police and organizers said.
District Coordination Officer Sahibzada Anees said that the bomber failed to enter the stadium and blew himself up outside the stadium.
He said at least one security personnel was also injured.
The blast also destroyed at least four vehicles and smashed windows of buildings near the stadium.
Police said that judo player Sajjad Hussain was among the injured.
But doctors said he is out of danger.
Police chief Malik Naveed the bomber could not enter due to security arrangements and the blast happened when most of the people in the stadium had left and only few hundreds were left to enjoy firework at the concluding session of the games.