12/01/09
Suicide bomber kills ANP lawmaker
dawn.com, Hameedullah Khan, Tuesday, 01 Dec, 2009
A teenaged suicide bomber blew himself up, killing ANP lawmaker Shamsher Ali Khan as he was seeing off guests who had come to his house here to offer Eid greetings on Tuesday. Shamsher Khan’s two brothers and nine other people were injured.
The man with explosives strapped to his body had walked unchallenged into the Hujra of the MPA’s house, witnesses said.
Shamsher Khan died on the spot while his brothers Shaukat Ali Khan and Mohammad Ali Khan were injured.
The other injured were identified as Siddiq Akbar, Mohammad Shah, Rehmani Gul, Amjad, Siraj Khan, Mehar Shah, Shujaat Ali and Rozimand.
Follow up:
They were taken to Saidu hospital where condition of some of them was reported to be critical. Shamsher Khan was a seasoned politician and friends and local people affectionately called him as Dr Shamsher. He is the second ANP lawmaker killed by terrorists this year. Earlier, MPA Alamzeb Khan was killed by a roadside bomb blast in Peshawar.
Swat District police officer Qazi Ghulam Farooq and bomb disposal squad personnel reached the place and collected evidence.
According to the bomb disposal squad personnel, the bomber was about 18 years old, who had used nearly 10 kilograms of explosives.
Police found legs and other parts of the bomber’s body and whatever was left of the suicide vest.
Some people blamed inadequate security for the attack.
Agencies add: Senior police official Ali Khan said that the politician had been sitting on the lawn in front of his house receiving guests and local constituents when the young man rushed up to him.
‘His brother rushed to save the lawmaker but the bomber blew himself up before he could be prevented,’ the police official said.
Spin Zada, a doctor at a local government hospital, confirmed that the bodies of Shamsher Khan and the bomber had been brought to the hospital.
Swat was the focus of a fierce military offensive launched earlier this year to rid the one-time tourist paradise of Taliban terrorists.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the attack would not derail the government’s efforts against terrorists.
‘Such reprehensible acts can never defeat our resolve to root out terrorism and militancy,’ he said
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