Blast at Peshawar airport kills one

Peshawar: A car bomb explosion yesterday outside Peshawar international airport located in a military area killed one person and injured two others.

Malik Saad, head of police in Peshawar, said it was an "act of terrorism". He said the explosion was being investigated but there were no clues yet as to the persons behind the attack.

Eyewitnesses said the explosion occurred around 7am at a time when the airport was crowded due to scheduled arrival and departure of flights to and from the Gulf countries.

The vehicle in which the bomb was planted was parked outside the airport on the road. The explosion destroyed the vehicle and damaged several other vehicles and shattered window panes of nearby buildings.

Naveed Khan, a 22-year-old man who was on duty issuing tickets to parked cars, was killed in the explosion. Two other men, Anwar Zeb and Siraj Khan, who had reportedly come to the airport to receive relatives, were injured.

Military area

The busy Peshawar airport is situated in the military area. The airport itself is divided into two portions - for military and civilian use.

It is part of Peshawar garrison and contains offices and installations of Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force.

The whole place is heavily guarded and patrolled.

This was the eighth bomb explosion in Peshawar city since mid-September.

Most of the blasts didn't cause much human or material damage but one in a busy marketplace killed eight vendors and customers. Another one was described as a suicide attack in which a young man lost his life while trying to attack policemen. Some of the cops were wounded in that attack.