Blast targeting Kohat police colony kills 21

Twenty-one people were killed and 70 wounded in a bomb attack targeting police residential quarters in Kohat on Tuesday, Geo News reported Tuesday.

"Twenty-one people have been killed and 70 wounded, and there were women and children among the injured," a senior police official said.

"It was a big explosion. I am on site and can see the smoke. Several people have been wounded," he said.

"It was a car bomb blast, we are investigating whether the car was parked or was exploded by a suicide bomber," Khalid Khan, Commissioner Kohat said.

Rescue workers were facing difficulties as electricity was suspended after the blast.

The law enforcement personnel have cordoned off entire area. Police said a nearby police residential complex had also been severely damaged and houses had collapsed, trapping several people in the rubble.

Police said it was a bomb blast but they were investigating whether a suicide bomber had targeted the area or someone had planted a bomb.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik strongly condemned the Kohat bomb blast and sought an inquiry report from the Inspector General Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Police.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani have strongly condemned the bomb blast in Kohat and termed it as the most heinous crime against innocent civilians on the sacred day of 27th Ramazan.

Militants have launched a series of attacks in the past week as Muslims mark the final days of the holy month of Ramazan.

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