PTI demands arrest of Attock attackers

A Pakistani provincial minister killed in a suicide bomb attack had been warned he was a target for retaliation by a militant after police killed the leader of the radical sectarian group last month.

Earlier, Punjab Home Department Secretary Azam Suleman told The Express Tribune that Khanzada was critically injured and trapped under debris.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a statement that “the courage and valor of Shuja Khanzada is a message to the masterminds of terrorists that they are bound to be defeated”. The rescue operation has not been completed at yet.

At least 17 other people including two police officers were also killed when the explosion brought down the compound where Khanzada was holding a meeting, health official Saeed Ellahi said. A militant group associated with the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

The bombers were not in the building with the minister, but seemed to have been planned to maximize structural damage to the building, causing it to collapse.

“Some 40 to 50 persons were present at the dera (out house) of Col Shuja when a suicide bomber managed to enter the house”, Commissioner Rawalpindi Zahid Saeed said.

The Punjab provincial head of Pakistan’s National Action Plan against terrorism, Khanzada took a public stance against the Taliban and Islamic militancy.

On Sunday, Shuja Khanzada, along with 16 others, was killed in a suicide blast at his political office in Shadi Khan near Attock. Some 18 injured have been shifted to different hospitals for treatment.

Khanzada was credited as being the leading figure in fighting against violent insurgent groups in Punjab.

“Such types of attacks will continue in the future”, Salahuddin Ayubi, the group’s spokesman, told a news agency. Khanzada assumed the charge of home ministry in October 2014 and has been actively involved in major operations against terror outfits in the province. He said that such kind of acts can not degrade the nation’s determination and its war against terrorism. He had received threats from al-Qaeda and Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

Pakistani Punjab government has announced a 3-day mourning.