{"id":46605,"date":"2018-07-11T13:23:34","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T07:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=46605"},"modified":"2018-07-11T13:29:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T07:59:17","slug":"taliban-kill-20-people-suicide-attack-peshawar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/world-news\/taliban-kill-20-people-suicide-attack-peshawar\/","title":{"rendered":"Taliban kill 20 people in suicide attack in Peshawar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dawn reports that the blast took place when Haroon Bilour, the son of ANP’s slain leader Bashir Ahmed Bilour and a candidate in the forthcoming elections, arrived at the site where party workers had gathered for a corner meeting. Bilour suffered serious injuries and was shifted to the hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.<\/p>\n

A local ANP leader has told that a suicide bomber blew himself when Bilour entered the compound where the meeting was being held.<\/p>\n

Shafqat Malik, Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police said, \u201cAccording to our initial investigation, it was a suicide attack<\/a> and Haroon Bilour… was the target.\u201d Hospital sources say that the death toll was initially reported at 13 but it rose to 20 overnight.<\/p>\n

$\"Taliban$ <\/a>CNN reports from Islamabad that Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the Tuesday\u2019s suicide attack. Mohammad Khurasani, the spokesman of Pakistani Taliban reportedly said the \u201csuccessful bombing (in Peshawar) is the beginning of revenge,\u201d and the \u201cdetails of the suicide bombing will be shared soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2012, Haroon Bilour’s father\u00a0Bashir Ahmed Bilour\u00a0was also killed when a Pakistani Taliban bomber blew himself up in a party meeting in Peshawar.<\/p>\n

The following year in 2013, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had\u00a0claimed responsibility for an attack\u00a0at an ANP rally in Peshawar, in which 15 people were killed.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, seven people including a candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal were injured in an explosion during an election rally near Takhtikhel canal.<\/p>\n

Dawn has reported that Taliban have time and again threatened to target secular parties for what they call supporting the military action in tribal areas and the \u201cwar on terror\u201d.<\/p>\n

General elections for Pakistan\u2019s National Assembly are scheduled to be held on 25 July. Awami National Party (ANP), a secular and leftist Pashtun nationalist political party, was founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986. It is presently headed by Asfandyar Wali Khan, the grand-son of Bacha Khan.<\/p>\n

$\"Taliban$ <\/a>The ANP governed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from 2008 to 2013. It has been a continual target of militant groups operating in the region. The militants killed hundreds of ANP leaders and supporters in attacks around the 2013 election.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Natio\u00adnal Counter Terrorism Authority\u00a0had revealed the names of six personalities, including Imran Khan and Hafiz Saeed\u2019s son, who could be targeted by terrorists during election campaign.<\/p>\n

Last month, US claimed of killing Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah in a drone strike. Taliban had claimed responsibility for most of the attacks against the ANP in the 2013.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Pakistan army announced it would deploy over 371,000 troops to ensure peaceful and fair and free elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"