PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber killed a provincial lawmaker and his brother Tuesday in Pakistan’s northwest Swat valley, where the military claims to have quashed a Taliban uprising.

A man with explosives strapped to his body walked apparently unchallenged into the grounds of a property owned by provincial assembly member Shamsher Ali Khan and blew himself up, killing the two men and wounding several others, officials said.

The attack against a member of the Awami National Party, which dominates the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) assembly, came as Taliban insurgents stage a wave of attacks avenging a multi-pronged military offensive against them.

‘Dr Shamsher Ali Khan and his brother were killed in the suicide attack,’ Swat police chief Qazi Ghulam Farooq told AFP.

Senior local police official Ali Khan told AFP that the politician had been sitting on the lawn in front of his house receiving guests and local constituents when a man in his early 20s rushed up to him.

‘His brother also 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 two bodies including that of Khan, 59, were brought to the hospital.

Eleven others were wounded in the blast in Kanju town, about 30 kilometres northwest of Swat’s main hub Mingora, he said.

Officials in the ANP said that Khan – a lawyer by profession – had received death threats from the Taliban ahead of the military offensive.
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ڈاکٹر شمشیر علی کا تعلق صوبہ سرحد میں حکمران جماعت عوامی نیشنل پارٹی سے تھا۔ سوات میں اس سے پہلے بھی بڑی تعداد میں اے این پی کے اراکین صوبائی و قومی اسمبلی اور کارکنوں کو ٹارگٹ کلنگ کا نشانہ بنایا جاچکا ہے۔

خود کو تحریک طالبان سوات کا ترجمان ظاہر کرنے والے عمر حسن احرابی نے نامعلوم مقام سے بی بی سی کے نامہ نگار عبدالحئی کاکڑ کو فون کر کے حملے کی ذمہ داری قبول کی۔ حسن احرابی نے مزید حملوں کی دھمکی دی۔

رواں سال مئی میں فوجی آپریشن سے پہلے بھی سوات میں مقامی طالبان نے ڈاکٹر شمشیر علی کے گھر پر حملہ کر کے ان کے بھائیوں اور ایک بھتیجے کو اغواء کر لیا تھا تاہم بعد میں سکیورٹی فورسز کی ایک کارروائی کے دوران تمام یرغمالیوں کو آزاد کرا لیا گیا تھا۔ طالبان نے اس دوران ڈاکٹر شمشیر کے مکان اور حجرے کو بھی دھماکہ خیز مواد سے تباہ کردیا تھا۔
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Asfandyar stands firm against terror

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) will eliminate terrorism from the province, party President Asfandyar Wali Khan said on Tuesday. In a statement, Asfandyar said the ANP would not hesitate to offer any sacrifice for the country. He appealed to the entire nation to unite against extremism and terrorism. He also condoled with the bereaved family of late MPA Shamsher Ali Khan and prayed for the early recovery of those injured in the suicide attack on Tuesday. app
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