Taliban blast kills provincial minister in Pak Suicide Attack On ANP Meeting In Peshawar Leaves 9 Dead

Taliban blast kills provincial minister in Pak

Suicide Attack On ANP Meeting In Peshawar Leaves 9 Dead

Omer Farooq Khan TNN

Islamabad: At least nine people, including a senior minister of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, were killed and over 20 injured when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up in the country’s northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday.
    Bashir Ahmed Bilour of Awami National Party (ANP) was targeted as he concluded a 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 Bilour 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. “Bilour used to receive three-four threats from militants 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 ANP, which holds power in KPK province and is also part of the federal coalition. His elder brother Ghulam Ahmed Bilour is federal minister for railways.
    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 4-5kg of explosives were used.
    Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. “We sent the suicide bomber to kill the senior minister,” said Ihsanullah Ihsan, Pakistani Taliban spokesman. Bilour frequently spoke against the them and was on their hit list. This was the third time Bilour had been targeted.