ISLAMABAD- At least nine people including a senior minister of Pakistan’sKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province were killed and more than 20 injured when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself in the country’s north western city of Peshawar on Saturday.
The blast happened when senior provincial minister of Awami National Party Bashir Ahmed Bilour concluded meeting with his party’s workers at Daki Nalbandi area of Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani bazaar. “As the meeting came to end, Bilour was coming out with his security personnel. The suicide bomber got close to him and detonated the explosives strapped to his body,” said Zafarullah, an eyewitness. The blast critically wounded him with injuries to chest and stomach. He later passed away at the city’s Lady Reading hospital. “The doctors tried to save him. However, he succumbed to his wounds,” said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of KPK province. “Mr Bilour used to receive 3-4 threats from militant daily. He sacrificed himself for the country. Such attacks cannot stop us from speaking the truth. We will continue to fight the terrorists as long as we are alive,” Hussain said.
Bilour was also provincial president of Awami National Party which holds power in KPK province and is also part of the national governing coalition. His elder brother Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, federal minister for railways, had put a bounty on the Californian film-maker who produced the anti-Islam movie which sparked mass protests in September.
Bilour’s personal secretary Noor Muhammad and a senior police official Sattar khan were also among the dead. Officials of the bomb disposal squad said that 4-5 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack. Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. “We sent the suicide bomber to kill the senior provincial minister,” said Ihsanullah Ihsan, Pakistani Taliban spokesman. Bilour frequently spoke against the militatnts and was on their hit list. This was the third time Bilour had been targeted by insurgents.
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