CHARSADDA: Local Awami National Party (ANP) leader Farooq Khan was targeted in a bomb blast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Charsadda region on Wednesday, DawnNews reported.

The blast occurred in the Sardehri area of Charsadda near the vehicle carrying Khan who escaped unhurt.

Khan is the Vice-President of ANP in the constituency of PK-17 and is also the coordinator of ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan’s election campaign.

Earlier on Monday, a suicide bomber targeted a rally of senior ANP leader and former railways minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour in Peshawar. He sustained minor injuries.

Seventeen people, including three children and six police personnel, were killed in that attack, while 64 were injured. Nineteen of the injured were still under treatment at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar,  where the condition of two wounded was reported as critical.

A FIR of the attack was registered at the Kotwali Police Station on Tuesday.

A special investigation committee led by SSP Masood Khalil was formed to probe the incident. According to initial reports, the suicide bomber was aged between 20-25 years.

There has been an increase in act of terrorism weeks before the May 11 elections and ANP leaders have been especially targeted in these.

Previously, ANP leaders Syed Mukarram Shah and Syed Masoom Shah were targeted in two separate attacks.