PESHAWAR (PAKISTAN) – Police and hospital officials said that a bomb blast at a religious seminary in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday killed at least seven people, including children, and wounded dozens.
A police officer in the northwestern city who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to media, said, “Unknown people planted explosives in a plastic bag.”
Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, has long been affected by Islamist violence. Some of the attacks have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
A spokesman for the city’s Lady Reading Hospital said seven died and 70 were wounded, many with burns.
Tariq Burki, the director of the hospital, said four of the dead were children.
The madrassa is extensively for adult students and many were studying when the blast happened, said city resident Abdul Rahim, who said his 27-year old cousin was among the wounded.
“He told us they were attending a class when the blast took place,” Rahim said.