A suicide bomber blew himself up today at a meeting in northwest Pakistan of an ethnic Pashtun nationalist political party, killing at least 25 people.
Police said the bomber tried to get into the ground where the Awami National Party, which heads a coalition government in North West Frontier Province, was holding a meeting but was stopped and blew himself up.
The Awami National Party(ANP) is a largely secular party and a staunch opponent of Islamist militants battling the state. Pakistani Taliban militants have attacked ANP gatherings before.
The meeting was called to celebrate the renaming of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), which the party has long demanded. Under constitutional amendments expected to be approved in parliament this week, the province will be renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, in a bid to represent its dominant Pashtun population.
“The Taliban have lost the battle and now, out of desperation, they are carrying out such cowardly attacks,” said Haji Mohammad Adeel, an ANP senator.
The long-awaited constitutional amendments, which will also transfer President Asif Ali Zardari’s sweeping powers to the prime minister, are due to be taken up in the National Assembly tomorrow.
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