ANP's Haroon Bilour among 20 martyred in Peshawar suicide attack

PESHAWAR: At least 20 people, including ANP candidate Haroon Bilour, were martyred   several   others sustained  injuries in a suicide blast at a corner meeting in Yaka Toot area of the provincial capital late on Tuesday.

The blast took place in Yakatoot area of Peshawar when a corner meeting of ANP was underway, eyewitnesses say. 

Initially, CCPO Peshawar Qazi Jameel put the death toll from the blast at 12. He said that nearly 8 kilograms of TNT explosives were used in the blast.

Zulfiqar Ali Babakhel, a spokesman for the Lady Reading Hospital, confirmed the death toll from the blast saying that 47 wounded persons were brought to the hospital.

The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) confirmed that it was a suicide blast.

Confirming Haroon Bilour’s martyrdom, the spokesman said that Haroon’s son, Danial Bilour, was safe.

Haroon was the son of Bashir Ahmed Bilour, a senior ANP figure who was himself martyred in a suicide blast in Peshawar in 2012.

According to the police, the vehicle of Haroon Bilour was the main target of the bomber.  Bilour was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds. 

Haroon Bilour was contesting the election from PK-87 on ANP's ticket. 

Rescuers and police teams rushed to the site and shifted the injured to nearby hospitals. 

The bomber blew himself up near Haroon Bilour during fireworks, police said.