Pak Governor survives bid on life as rockets fired at rally

Islamabad, Oct 11: Pakistan's restive Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province's Governor Masood Kausar today survived an assassination attempt as militants fired rockets at the venue of a rally to be addressed by him in a tribal area leaving at least one person dead and seven injured. The incident took place in Kalaya area of Orakzai tribal region shortly before the Governor was scheduled to reach the spot.

Tariq Hayat, a senior official of the administration for the tribal belt, told the media that at least three rockets were fired from nearby mountains. One person was killed and seven others were injured, TV news channels reported. There was no official word on the casualties.

Governor Kausar, who was in a meeting, had not reached the venue of the rally when the rockets were fired, officials said. Reports said the rally was likely to be cancelled and that the Governor would return to Peshawar. About 150 tribal elders were present at the ground where the rally was to be held.

One rocket hit the dais, another landed near a helipad and the third one exploded near a group of tribal elders. Most of those injured were tribal elders, witnesses said. The attack created panic in the area and people ran helter-skelter. No group claimed responsibility for the strike but such attacks are usually blamed on the local Taliban.

PTI