PESHAWAR: A bomb attack claimed by the Taliban near an election rally in restive northwest of the country killed two people and injured six, including a candidate, on Sunday, police said.
Former member of the dissolved Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Adnan Wazir received injuries while two others died in the remote-controlled bomb blast near militancy hotbed North Waziristan, police said. Adnan Wazir’s convoy was hit near Noor Wali, 20 kilometres north of Bannu district, local police said. “It was a remote-controlled blast and the target was the former MPA’s convoy near Janikhel area,” Bannu police chief Nisar Tanoli told local reporters.
Two persons were reported dead in the attack, the police said. Six others were injured and taken to Bannu hospital. The banned TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan swiftly accepted responsibility for the attack in telephone calls to media offices in Peshawar. “He (Adnan Wazir) has affiliation with Awami National Party and that is why he was the target,” Ehsan said. “It was the beginning of what we promised – attacks on the ANP.” “We claim responsibility for the attack. We are against ANP and Adnan Wazir was a part of the ANP government for five years,” Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. Adnan Wazir was elected as independent candidate from PK-72 (Bannu-3) during 2008 elections from Bannu. However, he extended support to the ANP-led coalition government in the province.
