Suicide attack kills Pakistan poll candidate, driver

Rescue workers move the body of Ikramullah Gandapur. Pic/AFP

A former provincial minister and senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was killed yesterday when a suicide bomber blew himself up near his car in the troubled Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

Ikramullah Gandapur, a candidate for the provincial assembly seat from PK-99 constituency, was on his way to an election meeting when the bomber targeted his vehicle in Dera Ismail Khan district. His driver was also killed in the attack while three bodyguards were badly injured, said Dera Ismail Khan DPO Manzoor Afridi.

Gandapur had suffered critical wounds in the suicide blast Sunday morning and was rushed to a Peshawar hospital by helicopter, however, he succumbed to his injuries during treatment after fighting for his life for over four hours.

Afridi said Gandapur was returning after attending a corner meeting in Kulachi tehsil when the suicide bomber blew himself up close to his vehicle in a narrow muddy street. Around the same time that Gandapur came under attack, Jamiat-Ulema-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Akram Khan Durrani, a former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, also survived a second assassination attempt in less than 10 days.

However, he remained unhurt in the attack. Durrani is contesting for NA-35 under the Muttahida Majlise-e-Amal (MMA) banner against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan.

Blast greets Dostum in Kabul
An explosion near Kabul's international airport injured several people yesterday, officials said, shortly after Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum returned to the country after more than a year in exile. An explosion was heard as the convoy of vehicles was departing. But Dostum, who was travelling in an armoured vehicle, was unharmed. "The blast was probably caused by a suicide bomber," said interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish, adding there were an unknown number of casualties.

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