SWAT: Preliminary investigations by the police have revealed that the main reason behind the twin blasts at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station in Swat was a short circuit in an ammunition depot.
In a preliminary investigation report prepared a day ago after the blast at the CTD police station in Swat’s Kabul, the police claimed that “no evidence of an attack from outside was found.”
Police have confirmed that at least 16 people were killed and more than 40 injured in the blast and are currently undergoing treatment.
“There is a high possibility that the explosion was caused by a short circuit as a fire broke out in the armory [a place where weapons are kept],” the police report said.
CTD DIG Khalid Sohail while talking to the media said that the fire broke out due to negligence in the ammunition. He disclosed that the incident took place in the old CTD office.
He also ruled out the possibility that the blasts were suicide attacks or other acts of terrorism.
“There was a store where we had a huge quantity of weapons and so far we believe that there must have been an explosion due to some carelessness,” he said.
“The building completely collapsed” due to the shock waves, Sohail said.
Meanwhile, debris removal is underway as nearby buildings including mosques, houses, school walls and roofs also collapsed due to the blast.
Among those killed are 4 civilians and 12 policemen. The hospital administration says that the condition of 10 of the 40 injured is critical.
After the explosion, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Inspector General Akhtar Hayat Gandapur said: “There were two to three bomb blasts. Most of the dead were policemen,” he added.
Footage from the site shows a body being pulled from the rubble as small fires burn in the darkness.
On Twitter, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif initially called Monday’s blasts a “suicide attack.”
“Our police have been the first line of defense against terrorism,” he tweeted.
Late in the night, he tweeted an update saying “the nature of the explosion is under investigation”.
Clarification
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) April 24, 2023
The nature of the blast is being investigated and as soon as the security agencies reach the conclusion, it will be shared with the nation.
In January, a suicide bomber detonated his jacket at a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar, killing more than 80 officials as the building collapsed and debris rained down on worshippers.
The following month, five were killed when a suicide squad stormed a police compound in the southern port city of Karachi, leading to an hour-long exchange of fire.
The country, home to more than 220 million people, has seen a dramatic increase in attacks since late last year.
