Death toll climbs to 98 in Pakistan suicide attack
PESHAWAR—The death toll from a double suicide bombing targeting a police training centre in northwest Pakistan has risen to 98, police said on Tuesday.
Pakistan’s Taliban said they carried out Friday’s attack on the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC) police training centre in Shabqadar town in revenge for the death of Osama bin Laden earlier this month.
“The death toll has now risen to 98,” Peshawar city police chief Liaqat Ali Khan told AFP.
He said 81 people were killed on the spot while the others had died in hospital since the attack, which also wounded around 140 people.
Khan said that 43 injured people were still receiving treatment in hospital.
The previous death toll was given as 89.
Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders were left angry and embarrassed over a unilateral US raid on May 2 that found and killed the Al-Qaeda chief who had been living, possibly for years, two hours’ drive from the capital.
There has been little public protest in support of bin Laden in a country where more people have been killed in bomb attacks in the past four years than the nearly 3,000 who died in Al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 strikes on the US.
If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please reach out to the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH). Their crisis hotlines are available at 1553 (Luzon-wide landline toll-free), 0917-899-USAP (8727), 0966-351-4518, and 0908-639-2672. For more information, visit their website: (https://doh.gov.ph/NCMH-Crisis-Hotline)
Alternatively, you can contact Hopeline PH at the following numbers: 0917-5584673, 0918-8734673, 88044673. Additional resources are available at ngf-mindstrong.org, or connect with them on Facebook at Hopeline PH.
