By NNN-APP,
Islamabad : At least 17 persons were killed and more than 50 injured when a suicide bomber ripped through a police picket near to Islamabad’s busy Melody centre Sunday evening.
The dead included 15 police personnel who laid down their lives in the line of duty as they were deputed to maintain security on the venue of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) Conference.
The police party was gathered near to picket on culmination of the conference when the suicide bomber blasted himself close to them leaving behind body pieces and shattered blood.
The victims of the blast were immediately shifted to local hospitals as the district administration and law enforcing agencies briskly moved to the spot to maintain peace and ensure earliest dispensation of medical aid.
Dozens of dead and injured policemen were lying on the ground in pools of blood after the blast when the media men reached the scene.
President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have strongly condemned the attack and pledged to root out terrorism and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sherry Rehman also condemned the incident and described it a “hopeless and cowardly attempt by those who are against the country and democracy.”
The minister also dispelled the impression of any linkages between the Islamabad blast and ongoing FATA operation.
Soon after the blast, Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior A. Rehman Malik reached the scene and described the attempt as a “suicide attack.”
“It is the act of those who are the enemies of Islam,” Malik said and later on the directives of the Prime Minister constituted a Joint Investigation Team headed by IGP Islamabad to probe into the incident.
“The conference culminated smoothly but then the suicide bomber targeted the security personnel,” he said.
The upper torso of the suicide bomber was found later and the government has announced Rs five million prize for anybody who passes on valid information to the government.
Secretary Interior Kamal Shah said that it has been established by the experts that it was a suicide attack as it left no crater and the police was target.
Inspector General of Police Islamabad, Syed Asghar Raza Gardezi told media persons that the police were very much alert but the suicide attacker managed to blast himself amongst police personnel gathered there causing deaths and inflicting injuries.
“It was the outermost cordon and there were two platoons – one each of Islamabad police and Punjab Police – when bomb blast occurred,” he added.
He denied that it was a security lapse saying, suicide attackers opt for different means and police are left with a few options to defend.
Chief Commissioner Islamabad Hamid Ali Khan also mentioned to a body found from the scene split into two pieces and said, it can be the body of the attacker.
After the suicide blast, a high-level meeting was held in the Interior Ministry chaired by Advisor on Interior to Prime Minister, Rehman Malik.
The meeting discussed the situation aroused out of suicide attack in Islamabad and reviewed security arrangements in the federal capital and all across the country.
Meanwhile, the list of dead and injured received from different hospitals from Islamabad revealed that 17 persons died in blast and more than 50 suffered injuries.
The dead include Haji Ilyas (Islamabad Police), Haq Nawaz (Constable Punjab Police), Chaudhry Safder (SHO Sihala Police Station), Babar Shah (Constable Punjab Police), Muhammad Nawaz (ASI Punjab Police), Shahid Mansoor (ASI Punjab Police), Zafar Iqbal (SI Islamabad Police), Aftab (Islamabad Police), Muhammad Ashraf (Constable Punjab Police), Unknown (Constable Punjab Police), Qamar Abbas (Punjab Police), Ghulam Abbas, Ataullah (Punjab Police), Shahid Mahmood (Punjab Police), Muhammad Siddique (Civilian), Amir Mukhtar (Islamabad Police) and Abdul Sattar (Civilian).
According to the lists the injured are Muhammad Aslam (Head Constable Punjab Police), Basharat (Constable Islamabad Police), Mrs Tabasum Zara (Civilian Islamabad), Rashid Farooqi (Civilian Islamabad), Unknown (Islamabad), Rahat Ali Khan (Islamabad Police), Waqar (Islamabad), Nisar (Islamabad), Muhammad Shabir (Saidpur Islamabad), Muhammad Iqbal (Islamabad), Javed (Islamabad), Amir Shahzad (Constable Punjab Police), Said-ur-Rehman (Civilian Taxila), Miss Rehana (Civilian Islamabad), Dr Nazir Hussain (Civilian Islamabad), Banaras Bashir (Islamabad Police), Usman (Islamabad), Javed (Islamabad Traffic Police), Akhter Munir (Civilian Islamabad), Afsar Ali (Islamabad Police), Amir Sultan (Islamabad Police), Jamil Ahmed (Islamabad Police), Nadeem Anjum (Civilian Islamabad), Rab Nawaz (Islamabad Police), Muhammad Nisab (Civilian Islamabad), Muhammad Amin (Islamabad Police), Waqar (Punjab Police), Amjad Hussain (Punjab Police), Hasnat Ahmed (Islamabad Police), Muhammad Iqbal (Punjab Police), Zulfiqar Ahmed (Islamabad Police), Muhammad Altaf (Civilian Islamabad), Muhammad Aslam (Islamabad Police), Safdar Khan (Islamabad Police), Akram (Punjab Police), Amir Shahzad (Punjab Police), Shahid Iqbal (Islamabad Police), M Ramzan (Islamabad Police), Zafar Hamid (Islamabad Police), Waseem (Islamabad Police), Sajjad (Civilian Murree), Bashir (Civilian), Yaseen (Punjab Police), Faizan Ali (Punjab Police), Kalimullah (Punjab Police), Imran Yousaf (Punjab Police), Mudassar, Naseeb Nokhez, M Qasim, M Javed, M Shahzad Saleem, Abid, Syed Mazhar Hussain and an unknown person.