Azmat Ali Bangash

Incident Description: Suicide attack

On April 17, 2010, Azmat Ali Bangash, a reporter for Pakistan Television (PTV), was killed along with 41 other people when two suicide bombers blew themselves up amidst a crowd of displaced persons collecting relief supplies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Kohat district. The attack was claimed by banned militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi Al-Alami. According to press reports, the first suicide bomber blew himself up at 11:55am and only a few minutes later, the second bomber also blew himself up as people rushed to the site to help.

Bangash, 34, was at the side to cover the food distribution drive. He received fatal injuries and passed away at the Kohat Development Authority (KDA) Hospital, leaving behind a wife and three children. Kohat Press Club President Mumtaz Bangash told PPF that some eyewitnesses said Bangash was hit in the second explosion as he began to cover the first blast. Rehan Khattak, a reporter at APP, told PPF Bangash had shared with some colleagues that he had been receiving death threats from militants after breaking news of the killing of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone attack.

Khattak said Bangash hailed from KP's Hangu district but due to death threats had left the region and settled in Peshawar and Islamabad from where he mostly reported.

According to police, no one was arrested for the attack and there have been no case proceedings.