SWABI, Nov 9: A leader of the Awami National Party, his son and a security guard were killed in a suicide attack in Malakabad on Monday.

According to witnesses, former tehsil nazim Hanif Gul Jadoon was returning home after Eid prayers when a suicide bomber blew himself up near his jeep a few yards from his residence. The attacker came in the garb of a beggar and approached Mr Jadoon who was sitting on the front seat of the vehicle with his six-year-old son Ahmed Hanif in his lap.

The ANP leader was killed immediately as the bomber detonated explosives wrapped around his body.

Ahmed Hanif and guard Farman Shah died in the district headquarters hospital.  The driver and another security guard were injured.

Mr Jadoon’s 15-year-old son Ijaz Ahmad and Wazir Shah, an elderly man of Malakabad, who were also travelling in the vehicle, escaped unhurt.

Talking to this correspondent, Ijaz said his father was the apparent target of the attacker. “I jumped from the vehicle through a broken window and rushed towards my father and brother.”

Local people said they had seen a beggar roaming there but hadn’t suspected that he was a terrorist.

District police chief Mohammad Ijaz Khan said about 10kgs of explosives had been used in the attack.

The legs of the bomber and two grenades were found from the place.

An official said Mr Jadoon had played an important role in a military operation against militants launched in February last year.

Three militants, their local commander Shafi Akbar among them, had been killed and over 150 arrested during the offensive.

Talking to reporters at ten place after the attack, ANP’s senior leader Azam Khan Hoti said it was a cowardly act of terrorism.

“If the perpetrators of the attack think that they will succeed in denting our resolve, they are greatly mistaken. In fact, such attacks strengthen our determination to fight enemies of Pakistan and Islam.”

ANP’s provincial chief Afrasiab Khattak, Arbab Najeebullah, district party chief Haji Rehmanullah and provincial Ministers Zar Shaid Khan and Sardar Babak visited the home of the slain leader.

A Taliban spokesman for Malakand and Swabi, Sirajuddin, claimed the responsibility of the attack.

The ANP announced week-long mourning over the killing.