TIMERGARA/KHAR, Sept 13: The district president of Awami National Party was killed and his four companions were injured when an improvised explosive device went off near his vehicle at Bandai village of Maidan tehsil in Dir Lower on Tuesday.

Also, a pro-government tribal elder was killed and his three relatives were injured when militants attacked his house in Mamond area of Bajaur tribal region on Tuesday.

Sources said that ANP leader Sher Khan, who was also chairman of district Zakat committee, was targeted by the explosive device when he was going to Timergara in his official vehicle along with his two friends and as many police guards.

Sher Khan and all of his four companions were injured in the blast. They were taken to a local hospital where Sher Khan succumbed to his injuries.

The other injured were shifted to district headquarters hospital in Timergara, where doctors said that they were in stable condition.

The injured were identified as policemen Nisar and Shahid and the two other companions of the ANP leader Matiullah and Saeedur Rehman.

The security forces and police cordoned off the area and started search operation soon after the blast.

District Police Officer Saleem Marwat told journalists that they had taken into custody 40 suspected people in Maidan, including the chief of a seminary and his aide. The seminary chief is stated to have affiliation with Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl.

Mr Marwat said that 10 kilograms of explosives were used in the blast. The device was a remote controlled bomb, he added.

According to sources the deceased was staunch opponent of Taliban and he was facing life threat therefore government had deputed two policemen for his security. Both the policemen were injured with him in the blast.

Meanwhile, a pro-government tribal elder and member of a peace committee was killed and three of his relatives were injured when militants attacked his house in Mamond area of Bajaur tribal region.

According to officials and local residents, militants attacked the house of Mlaka Gul Noor early in the morning in Landi Shah area of Damadola with heavy weapons.

They scaled the walls of the fort-like house of the pro-government tribal elder with ladders and opened indiscriminate firing on the sleeping inmates.

As a result 48-year-old Malak Gul Noor was killed on the spot while three others including his wife and son sustained wounds.

The injured were taken to agency headquarter hospital Khar in critical condition.

Malak Gul Noor had supported government against militants in the region. He also played leading role in formation of peace committee and flushing out militants from the region.

The political administration soon after the incident started search operation and arrested 10 suspected persons. The arrested suspects were shifted to Khar jail for interrogation.