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Minister escapes bid on life

PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber blew himself up at the house of a Pakistani Minister in Peshawar killing four persons, police said.

Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam, also local head of President Pervez Musharraf’s ruling party, told state television that he was unharmed in the blast.

The attack was the first on a civilian target in Pakistan since Gen. Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Saturday citing a recent wave of Islamist militant violence.

“The bomber wanted to kill me, he came into my residence and clearly I was the target,” Mr. Muqam told reporters. “I am not scared. I have survived two attacks in the past,” he said adding that his cousin and a former provincial official were wounded in the attack. An AFP reporter saw pieces of flesh, apparently from the bomber’s body, stuck to the wall of the house. The attacker’s body parts were scattered around the house porch and the lawn.

The bomber blew himself up when police stopped him from entering the house where Mr. Muqam was holding a meeting with party supporters and some lawmakers.

City police chief Abdul Majid Marwat told AFP that four persons were killed, adding that two security officials were among the four dead.

Mr. Muqam has been closely involved in negotiations to end a Taliban-style rebellion in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat Valley, where two paramilitary troops died in a remote-controlled bomb blast earlier Friday.

A close ally of Gen. Musharraf, he once said the military ruler had given him a pistol as a gift in return for services to the party.

Two hundred paramilitary personnel have surrendered to pro-Taliban militants in the troubled Swat valley, in a major embarrassment to Pakistan government which has been pushed on the backfoot in its operation to root out extremists from the northwestern tribal areas.

The 200 men of the Frontier Corps surrendered to militants led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah after their camp in the Matta area was surrounded by the extremists who are demanding imposition of strict Islamic law and have strengthened their hold on the region by driving out most security forces.

The security personnel handed over their weapons to the militants and did not put up any resistance, Dawn News channel reported.

There are almost no security forces in upper Swat, where most security posts and police stations are now held by the militants.

The rebels control six tehsils or sub-districts or almost 80 per cent of the scenic Swat valley, till recently a popular tourist destination.

Police and paramilitary forces have “surrendered” to the militants in key towns like Matta, Khwazakhela and Madyan.

The militants have replaced Pakistani flags over police stations and other government buildings with their own flags bearing inscriptions from the Koran. — Agencies

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