Home Minister In Pak Dies In Suicide Attack

Funeral prayers were held late Sunday for Shuja Khanzada, the home minister for Pakistan’s populous Punjab province, who was killed in a suicide bombing, along with 14 other people. One of the bombers detonated his device at the entrance to the hall, and the other in a back street behind the spot where the minister was sitting, the police chief said.

Lashkar-e-Islam, a Taliban-affiliated militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened that such attacks would continue in the future.

LeJ, long seen as close to Al Qaeda and more recently accused of developing links with the Islamic State group, has a reputation as one of Pakistan’s most ruthless militant groups.

“Punjab Home Minister has embraced martyrdom”, chief rescue official Mohammad Ashfaq told AFP.

Rescue workers move a body extracted from the wreckage of a building that fell because of the blast.

Inter-Services Public Relations, the mouthpiece of Pakistani army said that the military has provided teams for carrying out rescue operation and also two helicopters for airlifting the seriously injured people to hospitals in Rawalpindi.

Geo News channel reported on its website that Khanzada’s office was targeted by a suicide attacker though there was no confirmation from police or government officials. PM Nawaz Sharif has condemned the suicide attack and reiterated his resolve to eliminate terrorism.

“The attack on the minister was well-coordinated showing that the terrorists had full information about him”, he said.

Salman Rafiq, Punjab’s provincial health adviser, confirmed that Khanzada was killed.

According to sources Khanzada was being threatened by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi since Punjab Counter Terrorism Force killed LeJ chief Malik Ishaq in an encounter in Muzafargarh along with 14 other associates.

“US mission in Pakistan is prepared to provide assistance, if requested, to government authorities investigating this reprehensible act”, Dawn quoted a US embassy statement issued here.