Twelve people were killed and 20 more injured, many of them critically, when three grenades were on Tuesday lobbed into a cinema hall in this restive northwestern Pakistani city, the second such attack in a little over a week.
The attack targeted Shama Cinema on Pajaggi Road, the oldest hall in Peshawar owned by the influential Bilour family, which reportedly screens pornographic movies. Police officials said one grenade struck the main door and two more were thrown inside the theatre.
Officials at lady Reading Hospital told PTI that they had received 12 bodies and 20 injured. About 60 to 80 people were watching a movie at the hall at the time of the blasts, witnesses said.
Several members of the Bilour family are senior leaders of the secular-leaning Awami National Party. The hall also screens Indian movies. The cinema owner had been received threatening letters from militants about a possible attack, police said.
This was the second attack on a cinema hall in Peshawar since February 2, when five persons were killed and over 30 injured in two blasts inside another hall.