Pakistani police say electrical shorts caused deadly blasts

Pakistani police said Tuesday the twin blasts that struck a counterterrorism facility in the country's northwest and killed 13 people the previous day were caused by electrical shorts and not a terror attack, as initially suggested.

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The short circuits occurred on Monday at a munition warehouse within the facility in Swat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Along with those killed, more than 50 people, mostly police officers, were wounded when the shorts ignited explosions, seconds apart.

A security official sets a perimeter a day after multiple explosions caused by fire in Swat Valley, Pakistan on Tuesday. AFP

Initially, police said it could be an act of terrorism but an investigation later concluded that short circuits caused the explosions, according to a police statement released on Tuesday. Nasir Mahmood Satti, a district police chief, also confirmed there was no attack from the outside.

Associated Press images from the scene showed destroyed cars and downed trees at the facility, which also houses a police station and the headquarters of a reserve police force.

The district of Swat lies at the center of the picturesque Swat Valley, once the stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban. The military carried out a massive operation there in 2007 and later claimed to have routed the militants and restored normalcy. However, attacks have persisted.

Associated Press