Suicide Attack Kills Pakistan Provincial Minister, 7 Others

A suicide bomber killed a senior provincial minister and seven other people at a political meeting in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

The bomber struck when the top provincial leadership of the Awami National Party (ANP) had gathered at a meeting in the city of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The blast killed Bashir Bilour, the number two to the chief minister of the province, which is beset by Islamist militancy and frequently hit by gun and bomb attacks.

A week ago a Taliban suicide car bomber and militants armed with rockets attacked Peshawar airport, a joint military-civilian facility, killing five people.

"I can confirm that the senior minister Bashir Bilour is dead. He was very critical when brought to hospital and could not survive," Arbab Ayub Jan, a minister in the provincial cabinet of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told AFP.

A notice on the information board of Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital also announced Bilour and seven others were dead. It said 18 people were injured in the attack.

Bilour had "wounds to the chest and stomach. We tried our best to save his life" but he died during surgery, Arshad Javed, a senior doctor at the hospital told AFP.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said they targeted Bilour in revenge for the death of one of their elders.

"We claim responsibility for killing Bashir Ahmed Bilour. It is revenge for the martyrdom of our elder Sheikh Naseeb Khan," TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP.

Bomb squad experts said the suicide bomber detonated his explosives when the meeting was at its peak.

"The suicide bomber walked into the house where the meeting was taking place and detonated his vest," Shafqat Malik, chief of the bomb disposal squad, told AFP.

Police said around 100 people had gathered for the meeting when the suicide bomber blew himself up.

"The bomber reached very close to the senior minister Bilour," Asif Iqbal, a senior police official, told AFP.

He said the dead also included Bilour's secretary and a policeman, as well as ANP workers. Four policemen were among the wounded.

Peshawar lies close to the Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, considered a haven for Taliban and al-Qaida militants and is frequently hit by attacks.

Pakistan says 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism since the 9/11 attacks and the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.