At least 19 people were killed and more than 45 injured in a suicide attack in Peshawar on Thursday, the latest in the unrelenting terror attacks targeting the city.
The suicide bomber, who was on foot, targeted the city’s district court complex in the morning when the place was crowded.
According to city officials, the bomber blew himself up when police stopped him at the gates of the complex for a body search.
Three policemen were among the dead. Some of the victims were court employees, but a large number were those who were there in connection with their cases. The deadly blast also destroyed several vehicles.
The near daily bomb attacks have stretched emergency resources in the North-West Frontier Province capital to the limit.
Lady Reading Hospital is the biggest government-run medical facility in the city, and almost every day, the hospital has had to declare an emergency as the overworked and traumatised doctors and other staff deal with victims of terrorist attacks.
Rescue services, including ambulances services and firefighters are also badly overstretched.
The wave of bombings, which have particularly targeted Peshawar, began with the anti-Taliban military operation in South Waziristan. The most devastating attack was the car bomb attack at a crowded market that killed more than 105 people last month.
The daily attacks have cast a blanket of fear and gloom over the city, unprecedented for residents.
Bashir Bilour, a Minister in the provincial Awami National Party government, said there would be no let-up in the military campaign against terrorism, and it would continue until “the last terrorist is eliminated”.
He said it was a sign of frustration on the part of the terrorists that they had begun attacking civilians.
