-- Taliban deny responsibility
The bombing left a five-foot diameter crater. He said that Islamabad fruit market is one of the biggest fruit markets where fruit and vegetable traders bring their produce from all the four provinces for sale. The auction of fruits and vegetables starts early in the morning at the market while the bomb exploded during the auction of guavas, he said.
Fruit market sources and police said that guava crates were brought from Burewala, Arifwala, Shekhupura, Multan and Pakpattan, the main growing areas of a variety of fruits in Punjab. Seeking anonymity, a bomb disposal official at the scene said that explosives were hidden in a fruit crate weighing five to six kilograms; it was stuffed with nuts and bolts to cause maximum damage.
The blast was so powerful that it was heard about 8 to 10 kilometers from the blast site. As a result of the blast, more than a dozen vehicles were also damaged. Soon after the incident, police reached the blast site and cordoned off the area. An emergency was declared in the hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Police and Rescue 1122 teams rushed to the spot for shifting the dead and injured to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) as well as other Rawalpindi hospitals.
Professor Javed Akram, vice chancellor Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University, said a total 23 people were killed in the blast of which 20 dead were shifted to PIMS and three to Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi. He said that 116 people were injured in the blast. The condition of nine was state to be critical. Eyewitness said that blast occurred at a time when the market was crowded by labourers, early morning shoppers and others. Most of the people killed and injured in the gory incident were labourers, belonging to various parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Fawad Khan, a labourer, who also received minor injuries, said that the blast took place at around 8:00 am when he was standing at some distance from the blast site. Severed body parts and bloodstained clothes were scattered throughout stalls of guava. "I saw body parts were flying in air due to blast," he added.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali while talking to media persons at the blast site said that those involved in the Sabiz Mandi blast would be brought to justice soon, adding that an investigation had been launched in the federal capital as well as the area from where the fruit had been transported to the city to trace the real culprits.
He said it was not possible for the police to check every vehicle. He further said that none of the provinces had the latest technology, adding that the scanners bought for one billion rupees by the previous government were of no use. Chaudhry Nisar said the heirs of the blast victims would be compensated financially. He sought a comprehensive report from police.
Information Minister Pervez Rashid also visited the hospital and inquired about the health of those injured in the blast. Talking to journalists, he said the law enforcement agencies were probing into the incident and their reports would be made public. Banned outfits have condemned the incident, according to him. He said the elements perpetrating violence were getting weaken and isolated. He said the government's efforts towards restoration of peace had started yielding results as violent incidents had significantly declined.
MNA Asad Umar of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) also visited PIMS hospital and inquired about the health of the injured. Talking to media, he said that the Islamabad fruit market blast was the second terror incident during the current year, which showed that the government had failed to protect the lives and property of the people.
A three-member medical board of the PIMS comprising Dr Farukh Kamal, Dr Naseer Khan and Dr Nasreen Butt conducted the post-mortem of the dead bodies. The bodies were handed over to their relatives after completion of legal formalities. The relatives of those killed during the blast faced problems due to non availability of proper information about their beloved ones.
AGENCIES ADD: "Body parts went everywhere and even hit other people on the head," said Shaheen, a market worker who only gave one name. Bloody sandals lay amid boxes of straw and squashed fruit in the mud. Police waved metal detectors over boxes while dazed vendors sat in the wreckage. Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid hailed the Taliban's denial of responsibility although the militants have in the past denied attacks they, or allies linked to the loose Pakistani Taliban umbrella group of factions, have nevertheless been held responsible for.
"They have also said that those who are involved in bombing have committed a heinous crime. This shows the fast changing situation in Pakistan," Rashid told reporters at the hospital where the wounded were taken. But Fawad Chaudhry, a lawyer and media adviser to the opposition Pakistan People's Party, said the government was simply caving in to the Taliban.
"Appeasement is letting the militants get stronger and society is getting more conservative," he said. "They are confusing people about who the enemy is." In talks with representatives of the government, the Taliban have demanded the release of hundreds of prisoners and the withdrawal of the army from some semi-autonomous ethnic Pashtun regions where militants shelter along the border with Afghanistan.
Eyewitness Muhammad Tahir described the bloody carnage as the bomb detonated. "The blast took place around 8:00, when we were standing there - bodies were flying everywhere, bodies were flying at the height of 20 to 25 feet," he told AFP. Ambulances were rushing in and out carrying wounded people and bodies. Senior local administration official Nauman Yousuf told AFP "it was a planted bomb".
A bomb disposal official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the device hidden in a fruit box weighed five to six kilograms (11 to 13 pounds) and was packed with nuts and bolts to cause maximum carnage. Banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has condemned the blast in Islamabad fruit market. According to a statement, spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid said that attacking innocent civilians was illegal and prohibited, adding that the Taliban condemned blasts that target public places. Hidden elements shouldn't be ignored, he added.