ATTOCK: Punjab Home Minister Col (r) Shuja Khanzada was among at least 10 people martyred Sunday when a suicide bomber attacked the political office of the retired colonel in his native village in Attock district.
Chairman Hilal-e-Ahmer Dr Saeed Ilahi confirmed the death of the provincial home minister.
Rescue and administration officials confirmed the death toll, adding that at least 17 other people were injured in the suicide blast, while rescue workers were still trying to recover the injured and dead from underneath the rubble.
According to reports, a jirga (open court) was underway at Khanzada’s political office in his native Shadi Khan village when the suicide attacker detonated his explosives. The blast caused the roof of the building to collapse under which the provincial home minister was trapped for several hours.
Eyewitnesses said that 20 and 25 people were still trapped under the debris with rescue workers busy trying to rescue them.
A former army-man, Khanzada assumed charge of the Punjab Home Ministry in October last year and has been a major force in leading the law enforcement and security apparatus in several anti-terror operations.
Relatives and close acquaintances said Khanzada had recently been facing death threats and was usually accompanied by his security squad. However, the security squad was not with the provincial home minister today when the bomber attacked his political office near his residence.
A spokesperson for the Punjab police confirmed that DSP Syed Shaukat Shah was also among the dead and that his body had been recovered from rubble.
“We responded as soon as we received information from Attock. Some of the injured are critical and have immediately been shifted to the Attock District Headqaurters (DHQ) hospital Attock,” Rescue 1122 spokesperson Deeba Shahnaz told Geo News.
Speaking to Geo News from the location earlier, the provincial home minister’s nephew Sohrab Khanzada said he was in the kitchen when the blast rocked the building with such intensity that it caused the entire building to collapse.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned the terrorist attack, while Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has also expressed condolences for the victims of the attack.
Nisar has directed for provision of a helicopter from the Interior Ministry for shifting the injured on emergency basis, while he has also instructed army and air force personnel to aid in the rescue operation.
The ISPR said that special search and rescue team have been dispatched by helicopter to aid in the rescue operation in Attock.
Hospitals in Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been put on high alert due to the high number of expected casualties from the suicide bombing.
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