Shah, 50, an employee of the Peshawar Press Club, was among those killed when a suicide bomber attempting to enter the property set off an explosive device. A police officer, the bomber, and a bystander were killed along with Shah, an accountant and cashier at the club, according to news accounts. Twenty-six people were reported injured.
More than 30 journalists were inside the club awaiting the start of a press conference when the bomb exploded, news reports said.
The explosion occurred at 11:40 a.m. when Riazuddin Khan, a police constable providing security for the club, halted the bomber near the gate to the property, club members said. The force of the explosion blew out press club windows, damaged a guard hut, and tore apart nearby vehicles. The club had recently upgraded security because members had received increasing threats from militant groups.
“We were saved because this brave officer sacrificed his own life to save us,” Iqbal Khattak, Peshawar bureau chief of the Daily Times, told CPJ in an e-mail message a day after the attack. Press clubs, a tradition in major Pakistani cities, are used by the media as meeting halls and venues for press conferences.