Suicide blast at PML-N MP’s house kills 25

[Neo]

Suicide blast at PML-N MP’s house kills 25​

* Bomber targets Bhakkar MNA Rashid Niwani amid supporters and relatives
* Niwani among 60 injured, but not seriously hurt​

BHAKKAR: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of people at the house of Rashid Akbar Niwani, a Shia MNA from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, killing 25 people and wounding 60 including Niwani.

“It was a suicide attack, the head of the bomber has been recovered,” senior police officer Khadim Hussain told AFP.

“The bomber walked up to the MP’s house and detonated himself in the midst of a crowd of party workers, supporters and relatives,” Hussain said.

Local hospital chief Chaudhry Ahsanul Haq told AFP Niwani had suffered leg injuries. “His condition is not serious, he is alright,” the politician’s brother, Saeed Akbar, told AFP.

Television pictures showed corpses wrapped in cloth and placed on rudimentary beds after the attack, while the blast left pieces of flesh stuck to a ceiling fan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The Punjab IG said an investigation team had been formed.

Officials said the MP might have been targeted because he is Shia and lives in an area where there have been frequent sectarian attacks blamed on Al Qaeda and Taliban-linked Sunni groups.

Nawani has spoken out in parliament several times recently against growing sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias.

Deep in the Punjab, 260 km southwest of Islamabad, Bhakkar is in an area where sectarian tensions have run high. It is close to Dera Ismail Khan, an NWFP town that is a gateway to the South Waziristan tribal region — a notorious sanctuary for Al Qaeda and Taliban..

In 2002, a bomb killed 12 Shia women and children at a nearby religious centre.

“It could be a sectarian-related attack as Niwani belongs to the Shia community,” Khan Baig, a senior police officer in the region, told Reuters.

“Security has been tightened at all exit and entry points of Bhakkar,” Hussain told Reuters. The attack is the third targeting a politician in the country in less than a week.

On Sunday, suspected militants fired rockets near the residence of the NWFP chief minister.

Last week, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the house of Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali, killing four people and underscoring the insurgents’ intent to cripple the civilian administration. agencies

 

[drosan]

pakistan needs unity to over come this. it seems like these incidents are on the rise.