PESHAWAR, Dec 30: The administrator of South Waziristan, Mr Asmatullah Gandapur, was injured in an explosion apparently caused by militants, a government official said on Thursday.

Mr Gandapur was returning to Tank after inspecting the under-construction Gomal Zam Dam project when his jeep was blown up at around 5:10pm near the Dabara refugee camp by what the police said a remote-controlled bomb.

Mr Gandapur suffered minor bruises, but his driver Mirzali was seriously wounded. Mr Gandapur was treated at the Mission Hospital in Tank, said an official, adding "his condition is stable."

Mirzali underwent surgery for his arm injury. A senior government official here said the explosion was aimed to target Mr Gandapur. "It was clearly aimed at hitting him," Brig Mehmood Shah, head of security in the tribal areas, told Dawn. "It looks like the handiwork of militants."

A police official at Tank said they had evidence to prove that the explosion had been triggered through a remote-controlled device. Police were investigating the matter but suspicion immediately fell on the wanted militant Abdullah Mehsud who, in a recent interview, had asked Mujahideen to attack Pakistani security forces.

"So far, we have been on the defensive but now we are going on the offensive. I am urging our Mujahideen to attack Pakistani and American installations," Abdullah Mehsud had said in the interview with Dawn.