Bomber Kills 8, Injures Over 40 In NW Pakistan

Islamabad, April 30, IRNA – A suicide bomber Monday killed at least 8 persons in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, police said. The bomb targeted a police van on the busy University road also injured over 40 other people, they said. The bomb exploded shortly after an election candidate, Haider Khan and a senior government official, passed the area. It was not clear if the candidate and Commissioner Sahibzada Anis were the apparent target. The candidate for the National Assembly seat, who survived the attack, belongs to Jamaat-e-Islami. The injured, mostly passersby, were shifted to the city’s main Khyber Teaching Hospital. Several injured were registered critical, hospitals sources said. Several vehicles were damaged and traffic was blocked on the road, affecting a large number of people and students. People started shifting the injured to hospital in private vehicles and ambulances service later joined the rescue operation. No group claimed responsibility. Taliban militants routinely target security forces and the police. Pakistan is in the grip of bomb attacks ahead of the May 11 parliamentary elections. Taliban say they will target three major liberal groups for what they call ‘secular parties.’ Dozens of people, including political activists, have been killed in targeted bomb attacks in recent days./end