Eyewitnesses said the explosion was so intense that 25 persons died on the spot. The injured were rushed to different hospitals where emergency was declared. Nine more succumbed to their injuries in hospital. According to residents, police had made no proper security arrangements. A Lashkar leader said they were receiving threats from militants and police was also formally informed about those threats.
The leaders of the Amn Lashkar have been demanding provincial government support to check the advancement of militants from tribal areas to settled areas of the province. After the explosion Pakistan Army personnel initiated search operation in the area. The Wednesday's suicide bombing was the second such incident in the last six days here.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar strongly condemned the suicide attack at Namaz-e-Janaza. Expressing his heartfelt sympathies with members of the bereaved families, the governor said, such inhuman acts of terrorism and extremism could never deter the government, its security forces and the people at large from their just struggle to restore peace in the society and get rid of militancy and terrorism. The governor appreciated the support of the people of Adezai to the law enforcement agencies in curbing militancy. Barrister Masood Kausar prayed for the early recovery of the injured.
APP adds: Chief Capital City Police, Liaqat Khan said on Wednesday that the suicide bomber, who blew himself up during a funeral procession in Adezai area on the outskirts of Peshawar, was a teenage boy and not the resident of area. Talking to newsmen at the site of the bomb blast, the CCPO said terrorists are using adolescents for their nefarious designs.
In some cases, he said, terrorists pressurises young boys to commit suicide otherwise their family will be eliminated or the head of the family will be slaughtered brutally. He said security forces are taking different measures to nab these elements who are killing innocent people.
He said the motive behind the suicide bombing during funeral was to target members of the Peace Committee who are resisting militants from entering Peshawar city from adjacent tribal area. To a question, the CCPO said security forces cannot detain anyone on the charges that his relative is a terrorist. He said "if a person is leading normal life and is a law abiding citizen, we cannot detain him on the charges that his relatives are terrorist."