Suicide Blast at Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada’s political office in Attock kills 10

 Dead body of Punjab Home Minister Col (r) Shuja Khanzada recovered , Shuja and Ten others were killed including DSP Shoukat Shah in a suicide blast at his political office in Attock

ISLAMABAD;BY.ASGHAR ALI MUBARAK

Punjab Home Minister Col (r) Shuja Khanzada and Ten others were killed including DSP Shoukat Shah in a suicide  blast at his political office in  Attock on Sunday.Police said the blast appeared to be a large bomb, and it had caused the roof to cave in as Khanzada held meetings with supporters in his hometown of Attock. Khanzada is reportedly trapped under the rubble along with 24 other people as the entire structure of his office building collapsed.

“There was between 20 and 30 people present when the blast took place,” district information officer Shahzad Niaz told THE DAILY MAIL INTERNATIONAL.. “The roof collapsed.”

Rescue workers at the scene said eight bodies had been recovered so far. DSP Hazro Shaukat Shah was among the dead. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

“As per initial reports Shuja Khanzada is critically injured and still trapped under debris,” Punjab Home Department Secretary Azam Suleman told THE DAILY MAIL INTERNATIONAL..

According to initial reports, a suicide bomber entered Khanzada’s political office and blew himself up. The provincial home minister was addressing a dispute between two parties at the time.

“From the evidence available, it seems that it was a suicide blast,” Shuja Khanzada’s son said, according to THE DAILY MAIL INTERNATIONAL. Further, Khanzada’s nephew has appealed to Pakistan Army to help with rescue efforts.

Police and rescue teams have reached the site and rescue efforts are underway. An emergency has been declared in hospitals in the twin cities. Further, Inter Services Public Relations said, “Pakistan Army’s special urban search and rescue teams have reached the blast site.”Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has directed for provision of helicopter from the Interior Ministry for shifting the injured on emergency basis. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has taken notice of the blast and DPO Attock has reached the site. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast at Khanzada’s residence and called for immediate rescue measures and medical aid for the injured. Khanzada was given charge of the provincial home department in October 2014. He previously held positions as Punjab provincial minister and adviser to Punjab chief minister. Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemned the attack on Khanzada’s political office and stressed forging unity in the national ranks to eliminate the scourge of terrorism.In a statement released by PPP’s media cell on Sunday, Bilawal said, “Such cowardly attacks cannot lower the morale of the nation which has risen up against bloodshed and terrorism.”The PPP chairman also prayed for those who lost their lives in the attack and wished for the early recovery of the injured.

 Attock  formerly Campbellpur, is a city located in the northern border of the Punjab province of Pakistan and the headquarters of Attock District. In the 1901 census, Attock was reported to have had a population of 2866 people, a figure which has grown dramatically during the 20th century with 69,588 reported in the 1998 census and contemporary estimates approaching 100,000. It is located on the bank of the Indus, 80 km (50 mi) from Rawalpindi, 100 km (62 mi) from Peshawar, and 10 km (6 mi) from the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra.Gandhara was an ancient kingdom extending to the Swat valley and the Potohar plateau regions of Pakistan as well as the Jalalabad district of northeastern Afghanistan. Situated astride the middle Indus River, the region had Takshashila and Peshawar as its chief cities. It was conquered by the Persian Empire and later in 327 BC by Alexander the Great. The region occupied by Chandragupta, founder of the Maurya empire, in the late 4th century BC, and under Ashoka was converted in the mid-3rd century BC to Buddhism. It was part of Bactria from the late 3rd century to the 1st century BC. Under the Kushan dynasty (1st century–3rd century AD), and especially under Kanishka, Gandhara developed a noted school of sculpture, consisting mainly of images of Buddha and reliefs representing scenes from Buddhist texts, but with marked Greco-Roman elements of style. The art form flourished in Gandhara until the 5th century, when the region was conquered by the Huns.^[4] The whole region formed part of the Kingdom of Ederatides the Greek, who extended his power over western Punjab. The Indo-Greek kings held the country after him, being at last ousted (about 80 B.C.) by the Indo-Scythians. When the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited the Attock district in A.D., 630 and again in A.D., 643, he reported that Buddhism was declining in the region.In the early 11th century, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi launched seventeen expeditions into South Asia. In 1001, he defeated Raja Jayapala of the Hindu Shahi Dynasty of Gandhara in the Battle of Peshawar and marched further into Peshawar and, in 1005, made it the center for his empire. Attock became part of Ghaznavid Empire.The Attock fort was completed in 1583 under the supervision of Khawaja Shamsuddin Khawafi, a minister of Emperor Akbar. The Battle of Attock took place on 28 April 1758 between Indian Maratha Kingdom and the Durrani Empire. The Marathas under Raghunathrao Ballal Peshwa and Maharaja Tukojirao Holkar Bahadur were victorious in the battle and Attock was captured. In 1849, Attock conquered by the British who created Campbellpur District. After 1947, the Pakistani Government renamed it as Attock in 1978. On 8 May 1758, the Marathas defeated Durrani forces in the Battle of Peshawar and captured the city of Peshawar. Marathas had now reached the Afghanistan border. Ahmad Shah Durrani got alarmed with this success of Marathas and started planning to recapture his lost territories.After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Sikh invaded and occupied Attock District. The Muslims faced severe restrictions during the Sikh rule. The Sikh Kingdom (1799–1849) under Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780–1839) captured the fortress of Attock in 1813 from the Afghan Kingdom.The city’s foundations were laid in 1903, and it was named Campbellpur after Sir Colin Campbell. It was established near Attock fort that had guarded the major routes towards Central Asia. The district was created in April 1904 by the merger of Talagang Tehsil in the Jhelum District with the Pindigheb, Fateh Jang and Attock tehsils from Rawalpindi District of the Punjab province of British Raj.Attock’s first oil well was drilled in Khaur in 1915. It has an oil and gas field Dakhini near Jand. Dhurnal & Sadkal in Tehsil Fateh Jang.The predominantly Muslim population supported the Muslim League and the Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs emigrated to India, while Muslim refugees from India settled in the Attock.