ANP chief says he is unfazed by suicide bomb attack on him

Charsadda (NWFP), Oct.4 : Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has said that he is unfazed by the attempted suicide bomb attack on him at Walibagh on Thursday.

His comments came even as investigators claimed to have found important clues related to the suicide bombing in which five people were killed.

"We have two leads and we are looking into both. It will take three to four days before we say anything with authority," Additional Inspector General (Investigation) Safwat Ghayyur told Dawn on Friday.

According to him, the suicide bomber, of medium height and in his late 20s, charged towards the ANP leader while he was exchanging Eid greetings with activists of his party in his ancestral Walibagh.

"I was there in my hujra and receiving Eid greetings. I had seen off about thirty-five people, when I saw this bomber running towards me," Khan told reporters.

"Policemen were firing at the bomber but there were only specks of dust. My bodyguard got hold of him and then there was a big explosion," he said, adding that bombings could not deter him or his party from pursuing the policy of working for peace in the region.

The bomber is said to have received eight shots but that didn't slow him down. He said it appeared that the man had been drugged and he did not feel any pain. "At one stage, he fell, but got up again."

Khan's bodyguard then shot at his forehead and as the bomber fell, he detonated the bomb.

The investigators said the bomber was only 14 feet away when he started running towards Khan but ANP activists sensed the danger and whisked him into the house.

The blast left five people dead, including the bodyguard, police constable Shabir Khan, ANP's Buner district deputy president Shamsuzzaman Khan and bank officer Fazal Ghani.

Khan and his family were flown to Islamabad immediately after the incident.

Body parts of the bomber have been sent to a lab for DNA test.

ANI