Blast at iron scrap dealer's junkyard kills 5 in NW Pakistan

Hassan said police will launch a search for any other unexploded ordinance in Nowshera, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan's northwestern former tribal areas have been the scene of military operations against militants in recent years.

A blast at a junkyard of an iron scrap dealer killed five people and wounded another in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, police said. The incident took place when an employee was trying to dismantle a mortar shell, according to Najmul Hassan, a district police officer.

The blast also damaged nearby shops and police were trying to determine who sold the mortar shell to the iron scrap dealer or how it ended up reaching there, he said. Hassan said police will launch a search for any other unexploded ordinance in Nowshera, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan's northwestern former tribal areas have been the scene of military operations against militants in recent years. Abandoned mortar shells and landmines of Soviet Union era are still found in some northwestern areas, causing such incidents..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)