Pakistani Minister Survives Bomb Attack

By RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal

November 27, 2015

At least two people have been killed by a remote-controlled bomb attack in northwestern Pakistan that targeted a senior government official, who escaped the apparent assassination attempt.

The remote-controlled bomb attack late on November 26 targeted Akram Khan Durrani, Pakistan’s federal minister for housing and works, as his convoy was traveling in the Bannu district near the town of Bakka Khel Wazir in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Police told RFE/RL at least two employees of the provincial health department were killed.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Durrani is a leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) political party and a key political ally of Fazal-ur-Rehman, the politician and cleric who played a significant role supporting Afghanistan's Taliban regime during the 1990s.

He also previously served as the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and has been a member of both the federal and provincial legislatures representing his home constituency of Bannu.