Pakistan’s Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao survived an assassination attempt on Saturday and promised to continue his fight against terror, the Pakistani Daily Times reported.
Shortly after the attempt on his life, Sherpao released a statement condemning the bombing as an act of cowardice and vowed to continue his work trying to defeat terrorism.
Sherpao was mildly hurt when a suicide bomber detonated a powerful bomb at a public rally in Charsadda. Twenty-five people were killed and dozens more were wounded in the bombing. Pakistan’s security forces believe the terrorist was an Afghan.
The bombing occurred one day ahead of a scheduled meeting between the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan in Turkey. Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai are due to attend a dinner meeting hosted by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, followed by a formal round of bilateral talks on Monday.
"The summit meeting is crucial to thrashing out differences and evolving a joint strategy to fighting terrorism," Pakistani embassy Spokesman Majid Niazi told AFP.