Swat: Preliminary Report of Blast in CTD police Station in Kabal released
Death toll in twin explosions in ammunition depot at Swats Counter Terrorism Department police station jumped to 15 on Tuesday.
Dead victims include policemen, a woman and a child. Over 50 others were wounded in blasts that rocked Swat on Monday night.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Akhtar Hayat said explosions rocked counter-terrorism office in northwestern Swat valley, which was previously long controlled by Islamist militants before they were flushed out in a military operation in 2009.
His spokesman said in a statement issued later that ammunition caught fire, "most probably due to an electric short-circuit. No evidence of an attack from outside has been established so far."
Pakistani police and military have got a significant presence of their counter-terrorism staff in valley, which has been prone to insurgency.
Militants also shot at and wounded Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012 in scenic valley, birthplace of Mullah Fazlullah, the former chief of the Pakistani Taliban, who was killed in an air strike in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2018.
Other aspects of explosions are being investigated, spokesman said.
Most of those killed in blasts were police counter-terrorism officers, Hayat said, adding that a woman and her child who were passing by the building were also killed.
Regional chief of counter-terrorism department Sohail Khalid told reporters that explosions did not appear to be a suicide attack or other act of terrorism.
"There was a store where we had a huge quantity of weapons, and until now we believe that there might have some blast in it due to some carelessness" he said, adding, "We are keeping all our options open."
A hospital administration said it received several wounded people for treatment, some of them in critical condition.
According to repoet, two blasts occurred at Counter Terrorism Department Pabal police station in Swat on Monday that killed 12 people including one woman and injured 30.
As per reports, blast was so severe that roof of the police station collapsed while security forces also took control of area.
Meanwhile, rescue teams shifted injured to nearest hospital and hospitals of city were directed to remain on high alert.