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Suicide bomb attack kills 22 in Pakistan: official

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Dec 16, IRNA -- At least 22 persons were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the house of a minister in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on Tuesday, police chief said.

The bomber rammed his explosive-packed car with the house of minister for Local Bodies, Dost Muhammad Khosa at the city of Dera Ghazi Khan, police chief Mubarak Ali Athar said.

Athar told reporters that 22 persons were killed and 56 others were injured. Ten are stated to be in critical condition.

Athar said that several people were trapped under the rubbles of the collapsed buildings and heavy machinery was brought to pull out the bodies and injured people.

Minister Khosa said that 8 members of his family, including two cousins, were among the injured. He said he was not at home at the time of the blast.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast. But a provincial minister Rana Sanaullah blamed suspected Taliban for such attacks. He said that killing of innocent people on the name of religion is condemnable.

The blast destroyed 10 shops and caused damage to several houses, including a mosque, witnesses said.

Earlier Commissioner Hasan Iqbal said that it was a car bomb and the target was the house and markets of the minister.

Sources say that the militants may have targeted the house of the minister as his father, Zulfikar Khosa, senior advisor to the Punjab’s Chief Minister, organized a conference of religious scholars who issued a statement against suicide attacks.

Zulfikar Khosa, who was in Islamabad at the time of the attack, said he had not received any threats from the militants.

Doctors launched appeal for blood as the local hospitals run short of blood. A large number of people rushed to District Headquarters Hospital to donate blood.

Relatives of the injured said that hospital lack doctors, other medical staff and medicines to treat the injured.

Dera Ghazi Khan is situated in southern parts of Punjab, which has seen violence in the past. In February this year, a suicide bomb attack had killed 24 people and injured upto 50 others.

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the Dera Ghazi Khan Blast.

He directed the authorities for provision of immediate relief to the suffered people, a statement from the Prime Minister office said.