PESHAWAR (ENNS) Two more of the injured succumbed to their wounds bringing the death toll from Tuesday’s suicide blast to 22, officials said here on Thursday.
The deadly blast targeted a corner meeting of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Peshawar’s Yakatoot area. Party leader Barrister Haroon Bilour was among those martyred in the attack.
More than 60 people were injured in the attack, two of whom remain under treatment at a local hospital.
The deceased ANP leader was set to contest the July 25 elections from Peshawar’s PK-78 constituency. He was the son of Bashir Ahmed Bilour, a senior ANP figure who, himself, was martyred in a suicide attack in 2012 after a party meeting.
A case against the incident was registered at police station Agha Mir Jani Shah, with SHO Wajid Ali as the complainant.
Following the tragedy, the Election Commission of Pakistan postponed the polls in PK-78 (Peshawar-XIII) constituency. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council announced three-day mourning, while political parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf suspended their electoral campaigns in the province to express solidarity with the victims of the attack.
Interim Prime Minister Justice (retd) Nasir-ul-Mulk and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa reached Peshawar separately here on Thursday where the premier will chair a high-level security huddle.
The premier and army chief are in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) capital for a top security meeting following the deadly attack at an election meeting of the Awami National Party (ANP) here on Tuesday, which claimed the lives of 22 people and injured dozens of others.
