April 20, 2011

Suspected militants have bombed a private FM radio station in northern Pakistan, RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal reports.

Police officials in Charsadda, a town 120 kilometers southeast of Peshawar, said the building and equipment of Radio Dilbar were damaged in the blast late on April 19, but they said no one was killed or injured.

Police officer Shafiullah Khan told RFE/RL the explosives were planted close to the radio building.

He said no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Radio Dilbar is a local station that broadcasts a mix of news and music.

Shah Raza Bacha, an employee of Radio Dilbar, said the radio station had temporarily stopped transmission but would resume broadcasts in the next few days.

"The equipment is damaged and we stopped the transmissions," Bacha said. "It will take two or three days to resume the programs. Radio Dilbar programs are heard in Pakhtunkhwa and have lot of listeners. We are impartial and unbiased showing both sides of the picture."

Charsadda, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, was the scene of a suicide blast on the convoy of leading cleric Maulana Fazlur Rahman late last month. Twelve people were killed and dozens injured in the blast.