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Death Toll Rises To 18 In Pakistan Bombing That Killed Anti-Taliban Official


Pakistani villagers look the rescue work under a portrait of late Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada at the site of a suicide blast in the village of Shadi Khan some 70 kilometers northwest of Islamabad on August 16.
Pakistani villagers look the rescue work under a portrait of late Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada at the site of a suicide blast in the village of Shadi Khan some 70 kilometers northwest of Islamabad on August 16.

Pakistani police on August 17 said the death toll in a double suicide bombing that killed a prominent provincial official who opposed the Taliban has risen to 18.

The attack on August 16 targeted Punjab Province's Home Minister Shuja Khanzada in his hometown of Shadi Khan, about 80 kilometers northwest of Islamabad.

Khanzada had been meeting with dozens of local residents when the first explosion occurred, collapsing the roof on the group.

About 25 people have been pulled alive from the rubble.

Khanzada is the most prominent official killed by militants since Pakistan's government launched an operation in 2014 to secure the country's lawless tribal regions along the Afghan border.

He was a retired intelligence officer and was a leader in the campaign against Islamist extremists in Punjab Province.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa
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