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Pakistan blast in Peshawar kills provincial minister | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A suicide bomber has killed at least eight people at a political rally in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, police say. | A suicide bomber has killed at least eight people at a political rally in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, police say. |
A senior provincial minister and anti-Taliban figure, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, was among those killed. | |
The blast happened at the house of a leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), which is part of the national governing coalition, local media said. | |
The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the attack. | |
The Taliban has repeatedly targeted members of the ANP, which holds power in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. | |
Provincial information minister and ANP member, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, condemned the attack. | |
"Terrorism has engulfed our whole society," he said. "They are targeting our bases, our mosques, our bazaars, public meetings and our security checkpoints." | |
'Smoke and dust' | |
Some 100 people had gathered in Peshawar for the meeting of the ANP, which is part of the Pakistan People's Party-led national coalition government. | |
Mr Bilour had delivered the keynote speech and was leaving when the attack occurred, Nazir Khan, a local Awami National Party leader, told Associated Press news agency. | |
"There was smoke and dust all around, and dead and wounded people were lying on the ground," he said. | |
Mr Bilour, 69, was severely wounded in the chest and stomach and died from his injuries in hospital. | |
A senior police official told Agence France-Presse that Mr Bilour's secretary and a policeman were among the dead, as well as other ANP officials. | |
At least 18 people were injured in the blast, hospital and police officials said. |