Taliban bombers attack court in Pakistan, 7 killed

Pakistani volunteers rush an injured person to an emergency ward at a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. Police say three suicide bombers have attacked a courthouse in northwestern Pakistan. Charsadda police chief says one of the bombers detonated his suicide vest at the court's main gate while police shot and killed the two other assailants. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

ISLAMABAD: Seven persons, including a lawyer, were killed and 20 others injured today when Taliban suicide bombers stormed a court in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the latest terror attack in the country. The attackers opened fire and threw grenades as they attempted to enter the sessions court premises in Tangi, prompting retaliatory fire by the security forces deployed there. Three attackers were killed in the police action. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. "Several terrorists attacked the court and resorted to heavy firing at the main gate of the lower court," police said. One bomber was killed in the firing at the gate and the second was killed as he entered the court. The third bomber died when he detonated his explosives, officials said. "Seven people were killed and 20 others were injured during the attack," Sohail Khalid, district police chief Charsadda, said. Provincial government sources said one lawyer is among those killed. Khalid said due to tight security the bombers could not enter the court, but had they been successful in entering the premises it "would have been a catastrophe". Director General Inter-Services Public Relations, Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted, "Chief of Army Staff lauds security forces' response to Charsada Blast. First tier Police response has saved many lives. Shares grief on loss of lives." A search and rescue operation was underway, he added. District hospitals have been put on high alert. Charsadda is a nearly 40 minute drive from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's provincial capital Peshawar, and has been a target of terror attacks for nearly a decade. The latest attack came as security has been tightened across Pakistan after a recent wave of terrorist strikes killed more than 100 people. On Thursday, a suicide bomber killed 88 people at a famed Sufi shrine in Sindh province. Following the attack, the army launched an offesive against militants and claimed to have killed more than 130 terrorists across the country. In August last year, more than 70 people, mostly lawyers were killed in a bombing of a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta. A suicide bomber had struck a local court in Charsadda's Shabqadar area last year in March, killing 17 people.