Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Female suicide bomber dies in explosion in northern Pakistani city | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – A female suicide bomber blew herself up near a Christian school in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday, police said, in Pakistan’s first known case of a suicide attack by a woman.

The woman was killed, but there were no other casualties, according to police officer Ashraf Khan. She was walking near a Christian missionary school and a military checkpoint when explosives strapped to her body went off, killing her instantly, Khan said.

Peshawar police chief Tanveerul Haq Sipra told reporters at the scene that an initial examination of the woman’s remains indicated she may have been in her 30s. “It is premature to say what may have been her target,” Sipra said.

Dozens of armed police and soldiers sealed off the area, which was splattered with blood and body parts. There has been a rash of suicide bombings in Pakistan in recent months, but this is the first known case in of a woman carrying out a suicide attack.

On Nov. 24, two suicide bombers hit a bus carrying intelligence agency employees and a checkpoint near the headquarters of Pakistan’s army, killing at least 16 people.