The first lady suicide bomber in Pakistan, who blew herself up near the army checkpost on the sensitive Babar Road which leads to the corps headquarters and the regional office of the ISI last Tuesday, was not aware that she was carrying explosives which would be triggered through the miss call signals of her cellular phone. The woman, who was carrying a shoulder bag, wearing Afghani burqa, was dropped near the army checkpost by a car driver. “The lady wanted to enter the sensitive area when she was intercepted by the law enforcers,” said Chief of Capital Police Tanveerul Haq Sipra. 

It was 1:45pm, the administrations of Army Garrison School and St Mary’s, both located within the 50-yard radius area from the place of the blast, were preparing to close their institutions. Parents and drivers of the students were waiting outside at 2pm.

Suddenly “a blast which had literally shaken the whole area was heard,” said an official of St Mary’s school. We immediately took the students inside the school and asked the parents to come on the premises. Both the students and the school administration were scared as they had been threatened of such activity. The official later said it had been learnt that a female suicide bomber had blown herself near the army check post opposite the school.

Except for the suicide bomber, who was said to be in her mid 30s, no other casualty was reported. The lady blew herself when an army man pointed his gun at her when she did not identify herself despite being asked several times. “She was eight yards away when she uncovered her face and blew herself up,” informed a police officer.

The city police chief said they had recovered the legs and upper part of the suicide bomber. “Soon we will identify her,” he claimed.

But, despite the announcement of Rs200,000 for the person who could identify the female bomber or give any clue about her, there is still no hope whether the actual people behind the incident would be traced.

An official of Peshawar police said there was no jacket around the waste of the female bomber and she was carrying the explosive in a handbag hanging on her shoulder.

The explosives used were not the usual devices used by suicide bombers who either preferred MUV-II or MYB-II. The device used for this blast was a new one and it seemed the suicide bomber was unaware of its presence in her bag.

An investigator disclosed that normally a suicide bomber carried a device, which had nut and bolts to ensure more casualties in the blast. Also suicide bombers carried hand grenades. But, here in this case none of these things were recovered which strengthened the belief that the woman was not aware of the explosive.

It is believed that the woman was an Afghan national and might have been persuaded to carry out the suicide attack for money. Investigators, who are using their sources in Afghan refugee camps in various parts of the province to identify the woman, believe that soon they will succeed in identifying the woman.