At least 12 killed as bomber targets Pakistan anti-Taliban event

At least 12 people have been killed in a bombing attack on an anti-Taliban political event held in northwestern Pakistan.

The Tuesday blast targeted a campaign event held in the city of Peshawar organized by the Awami National Party (ANP), which has been targeted in the past over its opposition to militant groups such as the Taliban.

According to city police chief Jamil Qazi some 50 people were also injured in the blast.

Haroon Bilour ,one of the ANP’s election candidates and a member of an influential political family in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, was also killed in the blast.

“According to our initial investigation, it was a suicide attack and Haroon Bilour… was the target,” police official Shafqat Malik said.

According to police the bomber detonated his explosives before Bilour was about to address some 200 supporters.

His father Bashir Bilour, one of the ANP’s top leaders, was also killed by a suicide bomber in 2012.