Pakistani Pol Killed In Suicide Blast

An independent candidate running in next week's parliamentary elections and seven supporters were killed Monday in a suicide attack in a lawless region near the Afghan border, officials said.

Nisar Ali Khan was campaigning in the Eidak area, 15 miles east of Miran Shah when the attack occurred, intelligence officials said.

"The suicide bomber blew himself up when he was meeting people near the Nizamia religious seminary in Eidak," one intelligence official said. Another official, however, said the suicide bomber rammed his car into Khan's car near the seminary.

Khan was supported by the Awami National Party, a secular party of ethnic Pashtuns seen as a rival to hard-line Islamic groups, including the Taliban and al Qaeda.