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Attempt on Wali Khan’s life

Asfandyar Wali Khan

ISLAMABAD: Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan was unhurt after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Pashtun leader’s home in the North West Frontier Province on Thursday, but four others including his bodyguard were killed and several people injured.

NWFP Information Minister Mian Ifthikar told journalists that the target of the attack was Mr. Wali Khan.

On the day after Eid, Mr. Wali Khan, who is the grandson of Frontier Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and whose party heads the NWFP government, was meeting visitors at his home in Charsadda, 20 km from the provincial capital Peshawar.

According to the police, two policemen grabbed the suicide bomber when he tried to evade a security scanner, and when he tried to escape, one of them shot him, at which he blew himself up. Two policemen were among the dead.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the blast. Speaking after the attack, Mr. Wali Khan told supporters this would not deter his party from fighting terrorism.

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