Mr Gandapur's party backs
talks with the Pakistani
Taliban
A provincial law
minister and at least
seven other people
have been killed in a
bombing in north-
west Pakistan during
the Muslim festival of
Eid al-Adha.
Israrullah Gandapur was
greeting locals at his
residence in Kulachi
village when a suicide
bomber struck,
witnesses said. More
than 30 others were
wounded.
Mr Gandapur's party governs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a
militant stronghold, and backs talks with the militants.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the
attack.
Last week the Pakistani Taliban leader told the BBC he
was "open to talks" but would continue to target the US
and its allies.
Mr Gandapur is the most senior member of former
cricket star Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
party (PTI) to be killed in a wave of attacks which have
left hundreds of people dead in recent months.
The PTI posed a strong challenge to the Pakistan
Muslim League which won general elections in May.
It narrowly failed to become the country's official
opposition but did win most votes in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and leads the provincial government
there.
The party advocates starting peace talks with the
Taliban, and also opposes US drone attacks on targets
inside Pakistan.
'Crying for help'
The Associated Press,
quoting senior police
officer Mohammad Jan,
reports that the bomber
killed the guard at Mr
Gandapur's residence
before blowing himself
up inside the guest
room.
Mr Gandapur was taken
to hospital in a critical condition but died on the way,
he said.
"I saw so many dead people and injured people crying
for help," said eyewitness Haseeb Khan, Reuters news
agency reports.
Police have said that they fear casualty figures could
rise.
Pakistan has seen a wave of bomb attacks in recent
weeks, much of it centred on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
capital, Peshawar.
Last week, two people were killed by a bomb which
went off near campaigners against polio vaccinations in
Pakistan. The blast struck a van near a hospital in the
Budh Bher suburb of the city.
On 29 September an explosion ripped through a
market in Peshawar, leaving at least 33 dead and
dozens wounded.
Two days earlier, at least 17 people were killed in a bus
bombing near the city.
In one of the worst attacks on Christians in Pakistan, a
twin-suicide bombing outside a church in Peshawar
killed at least 75 people on 22 September.
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