A homemade bomb blew up three video and music shops in a market in Swabi, about 100 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, late on Saturday night, police said on Sunday. “The blast destroyed one shop and partially damaged two others, but there were no casualties as the market was closed,” said local police chief Fazal Elahi Badshah.
The blast occurred in the Gulzada Market which has some 80 shops of CDs, DVDs, tape recorders and also houses groups of bands usually hired to perform in wedding ceremonies, residents said. Islamic hardliners who say music and movies are un-Islamic have dubbed the shopping complex the “Hell market,” they said, adding that some shopkeepers had received warning letters in the past. |