A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 13 people and wounded 31 in an attack on a funeral on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar yesterday, a police official said.
Deputy speaker of the provincial assembly Khushdil Khan was at the funeral, but he was unharmed. “It seemed to be a suicide attack,” the official said. “And the target is believed to be Khushdil Khan.” Mr Khan is a leader in the Awami National Party (ANP), the dominant party in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, and has raised a tribal militia to battle militants in his area.
The blast occurred as people gathered around the grave of a local woman. “It was a suicide attack,” said victim Rahim Gul from his bed at the trauma centre of the Lady Reading Hospital, where many of the injured were taken. “There were pieces of human bodies and people were crying of injuries.”
The Darra Adem Khel faction of the Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. The secular ANP has long been a target for the militants. “How is attacking a funeral Islamic in any way?” said Asfanyar Wali Khan, head of the ANP. – (Reuters)