Suicide attack: Toll rises to six as official succumbs to injuries

Death termed as great loss; deceased was popular administrator.

LANDI KOTAL:

An assistant political agent (APA) in the Landi Kotal subdivision has succumbed to injuries sustained during Monday’s suicide attack on his office.

APA Khalid Mumtaz Kundi, a deputy of Khyber Agency Political Agent Mutahir Zeb, the government’s representative in the semi-autonomous tribal district of Khyber Agency, died in a military hospital in Peshawar on Tuesday.

“They operated on him for several hours overnight but several pieces of shrapnel had entered his body and he died,” said a security official.

Six people have now died as a result of the attack, in which two suicide bombers stormed the Khyber administration’s compound in Peshawar as Zeb chaired a meeting on arrangements for the elections. There has been no claim of responsibility.

According to a security official, Kundi sustained severe injuries in the lower abdomen. He had fainted after the explosion at his office.



Agency Election Officer Haroon Shinwari termed Khalid’s death as a “great loss” for the tribesmen in the agency. Khalid had installed solar power lights in the Landi Kotal Bazaar, constructed the Landi Kotal-Torkham Road, and compensated victims of the terrorist attacks in the subdivision.

Khalid was appointed an APA in early 2012 and also served as an APA in Jamrud for a short period. His funeral prayers will be held in his hometown of Dehraki, approximately 25km west of Tank City, on Wednesday. Khalid leaves behind a widow and three sons.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2013.