Suicide attack wounds Pakistani minister, kills at least eight: officials

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 16: A suicide bomb attack in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday killed at least eight people and wounded 30 others including a provincial minister who is in critical condition, officials said.



The bomber struck as Israr Ullah Gandapur, law minister for the troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, met guests who came to greet him on the first day of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, provincial health minister Shaukat Yousafzai told AFP. [break]



"It was a suicide attack, the condition of Gandapur is critical," Yousafzai said, adding: "At least eight people have been killed."



Shah Farman, provincial minister of information, confirmed the suicide attack, which occurred near his constituency Dera Ismail Khan, and the death toll.



Gandapur contested the May 11 election as an independent candidate, but later joined cricketer-turned-politician Imran´s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.



Dera Ismail Khan borders Pakistan´s lawless tribal regions, where militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have carved out strongholds.



The PTI finished third place in the May 11 polls won by Nawaz Sharif´s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), but formed a government in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has borne the brunt of Pakistan´s Taliban militancy.

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