Three hurt in blast near minister’s house in D I Khan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Three men sustained injuries when an explosive device planted at the backside of the house of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Revenue Ali Amin Gandapur went off on Friday, official and local sources said.

The sources said the explosives had been planted by unidentified persons in a street at the rear of the residence of the minister. They said the explosion caused injuries to three passersby identified as Hassan Qureshi, Malik Shahid and Kamran.

The injured were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Doctors were quoted as saying that the injured were in stable condition.Some reports suggested that the explosives were fitted to a bicycle while the police said that it was a remote-controlled explosion.

The minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, belongs to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and was elected MPA in the 2013 general election from the urban constituency of Dera Ismail Khan. The long-haired minister generated controversy when he was accused of snatching a ballot-box during an election. He also used to be almost a permanent fixture on the stage during PTI chief Imran Khan’s “dharna” in Islamabad.