The death toll in the two explosions at Swat’s Counter Terrorism Department station ammunition depot rose from 15 to 17 overnight by Tuesday, with the police suspecting it was related to an ammunition accident.

The number of injured rose by 10 to 70 people, who were sent to hospitals in Saidu Sharif and Kabal. A medical emergency has been declared in Swat district.

A police chief spokesman issued a statement 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.”

Other aspects of the explosions are being investigated, the spokesman said.

Most of those killed in the blasts were police counter-terrorism officers, Hayat said, adding that a woman and her child who were passing by the building were also killed.

The regional chief of the counter-terrorism department Sohail Khalid told reporters that the 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.”

The bomb attack took place in the Kabal. The casualties mostly include policemen, and one woman was reported dead.

A section of the building collapsed. Security forces have cordoned off the area.

The sound of the explosion was heard far away and windows shattered in the buildings close to the police station.

Ammunition accident

DIG CTD Khalid Sohail told Aaj News that the attack did not seem to be a suicide bombing as suicide bombers usually blow themselves up at entrances. The blast in Kabal instead happened inside the building.

Sohail said that a large cache of ammunition and explosives had been stored inside and this is why the explosion could have taken place. There is a high possibility that it was caused by a short circuit. So far there is no evidence it happened from the outside.

He added that the explosion took place in an old building of the CTD from where most offices have already been moved out.

Moreover, IG KP Akhtar Hayat also confirmed that the blast in Swat was not due to terrorism but due to the explosion of ammunition available in the police station. Negligence in the cause of the blast and other aspects are being investigated.

Provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat said the explosions rocked the 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.

Pakistani police and military have got a significant presence of their counter-terrorism staff in the valley, which has been prone to insurgency.

The militants also shot at and wounded Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012 in the valley, the birthplace of Mullah Fazlullah, the former chief of the Pakistani Taliban, who was killed in an air strike in Afghanistan in 2018.

Explosion was similar to Peshawar: Murad Saeed

PTI’s Murad Saeed said that the explosion, which he termed an attack, had happened on a similar pattern to the mosque attack in Peshawar’s Police Lines area.

He said that he had warned the government for 10 months that terrorism could be making a comeback in the area but people had made fun of him.

He said that a plan was being ‘hatched’ to turn the people of KP away from their homes and turn them into Internally Displaced People again.

“This is 2023, not 2007, people are aware of things now,” he said.

PM, interior minister condemn explosion

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the explosion and said his prayers were with those who lost their lives.

He prayed for the quick recovery of those injured and said that security forces would soon uproot the menace of terrorism from Pakistan.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah condemned the incident and said that the sacrifices made for peace in Pakistan will not be forgotten.

Both the PM and the interior minister ordered that reports be prepared and sent to them.

Funeral prayers

The funeral prayers of nine martyred police personnel have been offered in Peshawar, where IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Akhtar Hayat Khan, police officials, and locals were present.

IG KP Akhtar Hayat confirmed that nine police personnel embraced martyrdom in the blast, which has not terrorism links.

Moreover, he said that the blast also killed three locals and five suspected detained over terrorism charges.

CTD operation kills two terrorists in Lakki Marwat

An operation by the CTD in Lakki Marwat killed two terrorists while one official died as well.

The operation took place in Paharkhel Thal where two men, Nauman and Tehseenullah, identified as terrorists were killed.

Inspector Javed Khel and ASI Irfan were injured in the attack. Javed later succumbed to his wounds at hospital.