Pakistani police say electrical short circuit caused deadly blasts in Swat Valley; rule out terror angle

Pakistani police on Tuesday ruled out a terror angle in the twin blasts which ripped through a counterterrorism facility in the country's restive northwest on Monday killing at least 17 people and injuring 70 others, saying the explosions were caused by electrical short-circuit.

The blast occurred on Monday at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Kabal police station in Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Those killed in the blast included a girl child, 12 policemen and four detained prisoners, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) CTD Khalid Suhail said.

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Refuting initial claims of a suicide attack, Suhail said that arms and ammunition were stored in the CTD police station, and an explosion in the armoury likely caused the blasts.

"There was a store where we had a huge quantity of weapons, and until now, we believe that there might have been some blast in it due to some carelessness," Geo News quoted Suhail as saying.

Two suspected terrorists were brought to the CTD Swat police station two days before the blast and both terrorists have been killed in the incident.

Shafiullah Gandapur DPO Swat said that the cause of the explosions was a short circuit.

An initial investigation by the police suggested that the primary reason behind the two explosions was a short circuit in the ammunition depot, Geo News reported.

"No evidence of an attack from outside has been found," the preliminary investigation report said.

"There is a high possibility that the blast was caused by a short circuit as fire erupted in the armoury,” the police report said.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Akhtar Hayat ruled out the possibility of a terror act and said that the explosion might have been caused by an explosion of arms inside the police station.

The task to remove the debris is underway as nearby buildings, including mosques, houses, school walls, and roofs also collapsed due to the explosion, the report said.

Suhail said the shock waves caused "the complete collapse of the building".

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah condemned the blast and expressed sadness over the lives lost. "This scourge of terrorism will be uprooted soon," he asserted.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan also strongly condemned the blast and ordered a probe into the incident.

The latest attack comes as Pakistan faces a rise in terrorism incidents, with militants targeting law enforcers in their new offensive. Security agencies have also ramped up operations against the terrorists.

The investigation for the blasts has been assigned to a two-member committee comprising Secretary Interior Abid Majid and DIG Special Branch. The committee will analyse the evidence collected from the incident site and present its report.

The committee has been given clear directives to complete the investigation promptly and submit the report after analysing all the evidence.