3rd LD: Senior official among 15 killed in Pakistan's suicide blast

At least 15 people were killed including the home minister of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province and over 10 others injured in a suicide attack at a political camp in Attock district on Sunday, officials said.

Spokesperson of the rescue department, Deeba Shehnaz, said 15 bodies were shifted to hospital while two of the injured were in critical condition and treated in the intensive care unit.

Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said a suicide bomber exploded his jacket when the home minister Shuja Khanzada was listening to complaints from residents in his native village Shadi Khan in district Attock.

The roof of the camp collapsed and the whole building was leveled to the ground due to the impact of the explosion.

Police, security forces and rescue teams rushed to the site and took out the bodies and injured from the debris.

The deputy superintendent of police, Shaukat Shah, who was present at the camp to look after the security of the minister, was also killed in the attack.

According to police officials, around 50 people were present at Khanzada's office and many of them were buried underneath the wreckage.

At least 10 km of explosive material was used in the blast, the police said.

Search and Rescue team of Pakistan army is working at the site to rescue the people buried under the wreckage. Rescuers had to use the heavy machinery to cut the concrete of the collapsed building to rescue the people.

The minister was reportedly receiving threat calls from terror organizations since the launch of the targeted operation against the terrorists in the province.

A retired army officer turned politician, Khanzada, was given charge of the home department in October last year and he had successfully set up an anti-terrorism squad in the province that was conducting major operations against terror outfits.

Local Urdu channel Dawn News reported that the banned group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack as revenge.

The group's spokesperson was quoted as saying that the attack on the home minister was the revenge of the killing of their chief Malik Ishaq in a police encounter on July 29, 2015.

Ishaq along with his two sons and 11 others were killed in police encounter in the Punjab's Muzaffargarh district.

President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast and expressed condolences and sympathies with the families of the deceased persons.

Punjab provincial gov't has announced a three-day mourning in the province. Endi