Senior minister among 9 killed in blast in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - At least nine people including senior provincial minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour were killed and over 18 others were injured in a suicide blast that hit a political gathering in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar on Saturday evening, senior government official said.

The 70-year-old minister was a leader of Awami National Party ( ANP), the ruling party of the country's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that Bilour got seriously wounded when a suicide bomber targeted him after the conclusion of an ANP's political gathering in Dhaki Nalabandi area of Peshawar.

Bilour was shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital along with other injured people where he received three surgeries in one hour. Doctors said that Bilour could not survive as he received serious bomb injuries near his heart.

The other killed people included Bilour's personal secretary and a senior police officer who was guarding political leaders in the gathering.

Following the blast, Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Shafqat Mahmood, chief of bomb disposal squad of Peshawar, said that an estimated 4 to 5 kg of explosives were used in the attack.

Several nearby buildings and vehicles were destroyed in the blast.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf condemned the blast and expressed their grief over the death of the provincial minister.

Leaders of all political parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehrik-e- Insaf's chief Imran Khan condemned the attack and expressed their condolence to the grieved families.

ANP chief Haji Adeel expressed grief over the death of Bilour and said that the deceased was a man of valor and his death would be an irreparable loss for his party.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik also condemned the incident and sought a report from Inspector General Police of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.