Pakistani minister killed in suicide attack
ISLAMABAD A provincial minister in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province was killed on Wednesday in a suicide bomb attack, just as he was receiving guests to mark the Muslim holiday festival known as Eid-ul-Adha.
The attack on the festive event, which marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, came as a powerful reminder of the continuing ability of Taliban militants to strike at will in the nuclear-armed south Asian country which borders Afghanistan. Israrullah Gandapur, the minister targeted in the attack, was killed along with at least seven others in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, during a gathering at Gandapur's home on a sprawling estate.
"The suicide bomber who was carrying explosives tied to his waste sneaked in Mr. Gandapur's home in the guise of a visitor who wanted to greet the minister on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha and blew himself up," said a Pakistani intelligence official from the northern city of Peshawar who spoke to CBS News on condition that he will not be named because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
Although no one immediately claimed responsibility, the intelligence official said, Pakistani authorities had already concluded that the attack was carried out by the Taliban.
"This attack fits in to a recent pattern of other Taliban attacks" said the intelligence official.
Taliban attacks in Peshawar have recently included targets such as worshippers at a Christian church, a bus carrying junior government officials and visitors to a busy bazaar.
Wednesday's attack comes ahead of next Wednesday's (October 23) planned meeting between Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Barack Obama at the White House.
Western diplomats said the U.S. is concerned over increasingly fragile internal security conditions within Pakistan ahead of next years' planned drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
"The latest attack will only underline the way Pakistan's government is becoming increasingly exposed to militancy" said one western diplomat in Islamabad who spoke to CBS News on Wednesday on condition of anonymity. A diplomat who recently met with the late minister Gandapur added: "This pattern of attacks only goes to show conditions are increasingly out of the Pakistani government's control. At the meeting in Washington (on Oct. 23), I am sure President Obama would like to know how Pakistan plans to deal with this situation."